"There's no point in spending your life in the pursuit of something that's easy." - Alice Kuipers

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Why I Hate My Job

I hate my job. I hate being a massage therapist. Why you may ask? After all, I'm my own boss, I only work four days a week and only for six hours shifts. Why would I hate my job SO much? Well, let me sum it up for you.
Last Tuesday a man came in for an hour and a half massage. He wanted a full body treatment and I of course complied. Near the end of the massage I was working on his quadriceps (or quads - it's the front upper thigh). When I got to the right side I draped the sheet so that his thigh was exposed and started working. As I was working my way up his leg I looked up and was shocked at a most unwelcome sight. The tip of his penis was exposed. How that could possibly have happened I didn't know, because I am a very careful draper. I quickly took the sheet and pulled it over the exposed body part, making sure to tuck carefully so he wouldn't come loose again. He immediately fiddled around until he was exposed again. I covered him again. He moved again. Thus the massage went on until the end. At no point did he say anything inappropriate or hint that he wanted me to do anything with it, but just the same I was thoroughly uncomfortable. I have no idea if it was on purpose or not, but the fact is it would not have kept popping out if he wasn't at least semi-hard. Ick.
Today I had another male client who makes me thoroughly uncomfortable. He is constantly telling me that he'd be comfortable completely naked and undraped on the table. Yeah, you might not mind but I sure as hell do! Today he seemed to try extra hard to get me to see him naked. The door to my treatment room has a window that's all blurry and makes everything look like colorful blobs. Having given my client plenty of time to get situated on the table I came and knocked on the door to see if he was ready. I could see from the window that he was standing completely naked (due to the vertical, human skinned shape) and he told me to come in. I told him that I would wait for him to get on the table and he kept calling that he didn't mind. Again, you might not mind but I sure as hell do! He got himself up on the table but refused to cover himself. I know what you're thinking, I should have thrown him out right there but sadly it's not that simple. I entered the room, immediately covered him with the sheet and did the massage without incident. The worst part was the smell. The man bathes in cologne. It's so strong I can feel it burning in my nose. The entire hour was spent mouth breathing and fighting back a sneeze. So very unpleasant.
That is why I hate my job, because of the clients.

62 comments:

  1. I'm a massage therapist and I'm sick of all the psychos, pervs, exabitionists and douchbags myself. Massage therapy is only good for working on friends and family or maybe part time. Unless you're totally bored and don't really need to make money, don't bother with this field. You won't make any money anyway unless you work for yourself.

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  2. I'm a massage therapist too and I hate massaging people.

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    1. I am a massage therapist for an year .I always stress out because of clients expectations.I hate it

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    2. Yes as a longtime licensed massage therapist and I've been working for myself for over 5 years at 35 years old I'm going back to school massage therapy has taught me a few things and gave me confirmation of my upcoming career in mortuary science yes an embalmer I will soon be working with the dead and I could not be happier. In many years I have had some very nice clients that I have grown very fond of but the majority are rude perverts who are looking for Happy Endings to anyone entering the massage field beware choose physical therapy or occupational therapy do not be a massage therapist!

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    3. It's my dream job to work with dead. Sorry, it's true. I loved helping patients( as I primary worked in clinical settings) but I can't handle it anymore. If I'm not pushed by a patient, I was pressured or pushed by the chiropractor. I'd love to hear more about your future career. Good luck to you.

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  3. ugh me too!!! Luckily no creepers yet, and I've had some really great clients and tippers. But mostly I just hate it. My body is in such bad shape now, my joints pop and creek, I have ganglion cyst on both wrists... people are just so freaking odd!! I'm so over this!!

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  4. I hate it too! I can't believe I wasted $14,000 and a year of my life so I could do something I HATE! But the hours are good and I wouldn't make as much money somewhere else. It all boils down to having more time with my son. I was in tears today thinking that I have to go in again and work with that pretentious chiropractor and have clients who don't bathe, call me "babe" and ask if it was as good for me as it was for them. I want to be a medical assistant more than anything! However...

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    1. Jesus Christ help us!! I told myself for more than a decade that I had to stock with the profession for my family because of the flexibility and money. I was so thoroughly unhappy and my family knew it. I could never discuss details on the grotesque exhibitionist I had to deal with because I didn't want my husband to worry. Please please please don't do this to yourself. You'll make just as much money putting in a few more painless hours doing something else. Health insurance license is what helped me get almost totally away from massage. You could get your real estate license. Anything is better. The clients will manipulate and mind screw you in massage. Get out of it. You should be getting the massage not giving it. I will pray for you. Live this life like its your only. Good luck and God bless.

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    2. Are you still selling health insurance? I’m a massage therapist looking to get my license as well.

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  5. I hate it too, especially when clients with tone nail fungus insist I do their feet, I hate touching people feet anyway! I refuse most times and have worn gloves if the client gets really pushy. I don't like the pervy phone calls and the hairy sweaty pigs who like being naked on the table when I've asked them to wear loose boxers or shorts. I'm not impressed. Hate it and I quit.

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  6. I've only been a massage therapist for one week and I'm already sick of it, burnt out, and both arms and wrists hurt! I'm glad I didn't spend too much money. I'm going back to nursing, it was easier!

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  7. I've never encountered so many ungrateful people until I got into the massage business. Just last week I gave someone a 90 minute massage and she refused to pay. No real reason other than not good pressure. Bullshit. People just want to get away with not paying whenever they can. I put my heart and soul into this and it's sucking the life out of me. I'm done.

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  8. I've been massaging for 5 years and the only thing that helps me not get tired of it is the fact that I'm also an esthetician so I get to do different things. I can't imagine going back to the days of just one massage after the next. I also own my own business so when I don't feel like massaging I just block it off the services. My massage style is also very clinical, so if someone doesn't like it they just don't come back. I refuse to try to figure out what someone is envisioning, I'm working out he knots and fixing you that is all.

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  9. OMG, I am so glad to hear that so many fellow therapists HATE massage! I am so sick of it. I've only been out of school for a year and a half, and I've only had one pervert incident, but I absolutely dread every single day! I hate it! I'm going back to school for nursing.

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  10. OMG, I am so glad to hear that so many fellow therapists HATE massage! I am so sick of it. I've only been out of school for a year and a half, and I've only had one pervert incident, but I absolutely dread every single day! I hate it! I'm going back to school for nursing.

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  11. I needed to see this post today. I have a job in marketing that I do from home and recently got my massage license as it's required in my state for me to legally practice Reiki. I love getting clients for Reiki or chakra balancing, but dread massage clients. I do freelance work for a salon and have an appointment today ... I woke up dreading it. I have always had great clients (no creeps) and people love the work I do ... but I don't like doing it. Time for me to stop doing it and only do what I enjoy.

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  12. Agree with all of this. Crooked chiropractors, physical therapists, and spa owners will take your profits while paying you pennies. Have your own business and deal with all the creepy guys on the phone.
    Clients are often unreasonably demanding and disrespectful. For anyone considering this as a career - skip ahead and choose something more intellectually challenging and with better longevity. This is not a permanent career and it will wreck your body. You'll probably have nothing to show for it financially. Running your own business requires so much business savvy, you might as well just spend the time learning a profession like accounting or anything that will give you stability. The only bonus is having some flexibility, and the right to refuse service, which is exercised quite frequently. I am going into nursing. I can't imagine nurses are as disrespected, sexually harassed, and generally treated as horribly as massage therapists. At least do something that pays a respectable salary if you are going to get S##t on.

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  13. Never thought I'd get to this place but I also, officially, hate doing massage. 5 years in, and I'm burnt out. The experience wasn't all bad, and most of it pretty good. But in the end, over it. I couldn't handle one more neurotic, over worked, over stressed client who needed the pressure of an elephant to feel their body again. I've been working for a spa who hired me as "private contractor". Sounded glamorous when I knew I could make my own schedule and they'd handle everything else like sheets, scheduling clients, marketing, and taking payment. I'm not business savvy so this is why I worked for them. I was making $24hr to start which is much better than the $15hr places like massage envy pay (they should be shut down for slave labor). Here's the problem, I can do 4 massages a day 4 days a week before my hands go completely numb. That adds up to just over $500 a week. But, at least 2/3 of those sessions don't get booked by the spa each week and that takes me down to about $400. Good luck kids, I'm living in the 4th most expensive city in the country with no paid vacation, and no health insurance. I suppose my days of sadomasochism are over. I'm officially free from the delusion that living this way was the meaning of freedom. No. Not if this is how you support yourself. If this is a part time gig you use to throw some extra coin in your piggy bank than you're good. I finally quit my job 2 days ago after I had my last neurotic client micromanage her entire massage. With 9 mins to spare I ended the massage by telling the client I couldn't help her the way she wanted me to because I was hurting myself trying to go as deep as she thought she needed as she squirmed on the table showing me where I needed to be applying pressure. It was liberating and the owner of the establishment was up in arms. I simply said, if you expect me to put myself in pain for these clients and not set boundaries for myself at work, I'm no longer a match. This was in response to me telling me I should have completed the massage and have her rebook with someone else. What an a%^! All about the $s. I'm done now. No more massage. I'll never work for someone doing massage again. It's abusive. It helped me get to a place where I realized my worth and for that I'm forever grateful. If you are considering a career as s massage therapist if really encourage you to take business courses first at a community college to see if you're good at that because I guarantee if you plan to do this for your main income at a spa you'll be burnt out within a few yrs like the National statistics suggest and then you're back to contemplating a career shift that will allow you to work with carpal tunnel. Good luck.

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  14. I've been massaging for a year now. Most of my clients have been great, but I've encountered a few psychos and exhibitionists. The ones I dislike most are the ones that try to extend the massage when time is up and I have either a client waiting or it's about to be my break. They do it because they know if you say no then there goes your tip. At this point, I say screw the tip.

    The worst part for me though is the fellow therapists. Fellow LMTs are the most pretentious, insecure, egotistical brats I have ever had to work with. The spa I work at is full of cliques, and it's sad how you see these 10-20 year therapists trying to diss the relatively new therapists and their styles. It's nothing more than a glorified dick measuring contest that is entirely subjective to each client.

    At one point early on in my career, I had an instructor that wanted to "mentor" me because I was an excellent student and putting in extra work. Long story short, he misrepresented himself to me and was only interested in mentoring because he was in pain. After he told me I fixed his pain and how great I did (after driving over 1 hour each way to his home) he vanishes. His contact with me comes to a halt, and when I finally do talk to him again he is dressing down my abilities and hosting continued education classes that I'm not made aware of. Glad you appreciated my volunteer work.

    I don't regret getting into massage per se, but it is not what is represented to you in school. I've only done this for a year, but I can see the truth in what people say on here that have been doing this for 5-10 years. It was an upgrade over retail and waiting tables, but it's not the complete answer to freedom. The best you can do is use massage as a stepping stone while taking extreme precautions with body mechanics. My mechanics aren't great and I'm paying the price for it. I probably won't last forever, so the plan in 5 years is to transition into management while also working to be a physical therapy assistant.

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  15. Hi all. Been doing it 13 years and seen it all. Never made an income to live off. Have tendinitis, can barely use mt thumb, been sexually harassed more times you can count. Im getting my real estate license.

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  16. I have worked for the same spa for 7 years and recently discovered that the pay scale had changed and new therapist s were starting out at 24 an hour. I started at 19. When I finally asked my money hungry boss to give me a raise she said yes and that she was thankful for all I do. I didn't ask her how much she would raise me. Just waited til paychecks came. I just knew I'd get at least 3. I was appalled to see that she raised me 1 dollar! That's 7 bucks a day. This is why I hate my job bc I make 4 less than new out of schoolers. And I'm a damn good LMT.

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  17. Yep totally agree with the comments. Lots of creeps and unsatisfied people out there that want a massage. Its so sad, u give you your best and your time and its still not good enough.
    Got another problem in this job, that I dont get as many clients as I needed,when I see someone new then theyre most likely unsatisfied after and dont return or book with my collegues. But I dont know what I am doing wrong after all. Its actually super frustrating this whole job. Were supposed to be the person that teaches about wellbeing but ruin ourselves.... :/ any suggestions why clients dont book in again?

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  18. I've been at it for over 20 years. One of the biggest regrets of my life. Yes, I helped MANY people, and had meaningful connections galore. What I regret is spending most of that time in the utterly exploitive spa industry.And I regret not using my fine intellectual strengths. Now I'm going back to start a second career that will give me double (at least) the income and vastly more status, while still allowing me to help others. Much more security as well. I would steer ANY potential massage therapist AWAY from this career, unless you truly believe you possess no other options--and I know you do!

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  19. Oh I just want to reach through the computer screen and hug all you guys/gals!!!! I feel the same as as all of you! I've been a therapist for almost 5 years now and I just don't like it anymore. I'm not sure if I ever did really. I'm so tired of not having a stable income. Even when I was making something working for the evil massage chains I was burning out (physically and mentally!). The more I research, the more I'm convinced that the majority of stuff that MTs peddle is new agey pseudoscience. *sigh*

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    1. I forgot to add that yes, I too am tired of unsatisfied people and I'm ALWAYS worried about the creepy pervs out there. I haven't had any really bad incidents (mostly men being nosey about my personal life) but I know too many therapists who have which leaves me wondering when it will happen to me. I'm sick of trying to please other people while hurting myself and all because I need them to tip me well...this job is a joke!

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  20. I'm currently in a massage therapy program, but I so badly want to quit and return to my old job which was working with children. However, I know that my family will tell me that I can't stick with anything, and I'm always running around in circles with my career choices. But I've never been so depressed in my entire life. I haven't even graduated and the expectations for our studies and hour requirements are dragging me down hard. I have failed 2 courses and I so badly want out, but my family is encouraging me not to give up. I know that if I fail again there will be hell to pay, but I just can't take it anymore. I was sexually assaulted the past few weeks and it just makes me feel like shit. I know I shouldn't let it bother me as much as it does, but it's made me fearful of male clients and the incident just completely sucked out any life in me that I had left. I haven't even told my family because I'm afraid that they will just tell me that I am overreacting, or a male is finally paying attention to me, etc. etc. I'm at the point where I just hope I fail, but I also don't want to waste any more years of my life and do what makes me happy. I'm just not sure how to go about it yet.

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  21. This blog aware me about different programs which can become very useful for our friends and kids. Few websites provide combined courses and few of the are separately for single subject. Glad to get this information.
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  22. Omg! I've been a professional massage therapist for 15 years and I finally gave it up a few months ago. All I can tell anyone who is considering this field, don't do it!!!!

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  23. I owned my own therapeutic massage practice for 8 years. I put my heart and soul into it. I constantly was learning new modalities to help a broader range of clients (cupping, cranial sacral, neuromuscular, lymphatic drainage, gua sha to name but a few). My specialty was injury recovery. Lots of deep tissue. It is HARD work. Despite the fact that I had many, many 5 star reviews and some great clients, my area was saturated with LMTs and I just could not seem to make a decent living. Always "just getting by". Owning your own practice comes with lots of expenses and headaches. It was just me, no employees. People come and go. Clients lose jobs, have babies, move away, etc. The first thing to go is massage therapy. I could never count on money. I would have a full week booked (10-14 clients) then I would get cancellations. Even though I had a policy that clients needed to give a 24 hour notice when cancelling or they would have to pay a fee, I never followed through with it after I lost a few clients because of it. It was always some emergency on their end. So a full week often turned into a 1/2 week. Out of that you have to pay office rent, supplies, advertising, website, online booking, liability insurance, license renewal, mandatory continuing ed, laundry, ...on and on and on. So I figured out I was actually only making less than 1/2 of what I was charging per hour. Throw in cancellations, flu season, not being able to fill that now vacant spot right away. It sucked. Remember, you only get paid for the time a client is on the table. You do not get paid for the time spent before and after a session. I always allowed 30 minutes between clients as I had to handle everything. Some clients come early, there is a lot of cleaning, flipping the table, calls, texts, emails. So much. But, again, you only get paid for when the client is on the table so you may be in your office for 7 to 9 hours, but you only had 3 clients because 2 cancelled. Get it? I gave it my all and went above and beyond for each and every client. I was tired. My hands never hurt, but I have a permanent issue in my right shoulder and numbness and tingling due to carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand now. My clients were about 90% female. I preferred it that way because at least half of the men that came in would say inappropriate comments. I got sick of trying to stick up for myself and my very professional profession. I actually had a men relieve himself on my table after a session. I did not know until after he left and I accidentally stuck my hand in it while stripping the table. Body fluids, no gloves, total meltdown. I was disgusted. He had a creepy vibe for sure. I texted him, called him out on it and said if he ever tried to come back I would call the police. I do not want to have to go through something like that again. Ever. The happy ending jokes get damn old. The recent Coronavirus pandemic shut me down permanently. Blessing in disguise! I am now learning sound engineering so I can go back to my Voice Over career and do the recording, editing and everything from my home. I used to just be the talent and did it several years ago for a short while. I felt going to school for massage therapy would be a better choice as a newly single Mom at the time. Ha! My hubby built a sound booth, I got professional mics and equipment and I have taught myself the online recording software. I was planning on leaving Massage Therapy for good in a couple of years anyway. The Universe stepped in and said, nope now is the time. So, kids, my advice to you? It is a tough field to earn a living in. The places like Massage Envy will work you to the bone doing way more back to back sessions than should be allowed and give you very little compensation for it. I know several of my old classmates that did it and were burned out after only a couple years. This was my honest experience. Hate to be a Debbie downer, but I did my very best and feel like I have nothing (but my school loan) to show for years of hard work. I do not recommend it.

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  24. Wow, I had no idea how long my post was until after I posted! It kind of all just came out...

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  25. I saw this thread and had to comment. I graduated and became a RMT in 2002. I was 26 years old. I worked hard in massage school and was excited for my future. I was interested in healthcare but knew I couldn't be a nurse etc. So I thought massage would be a good choice. I worked with chiropractors, other RMTs and a spa. The two worst things about it were the inconsistent money week to week and the physical tole it took on my body. My hands and foremarms were sore. My backed ached. It seemed everyone wanted deep pressure. I aimed to give a good massage so even after 2 or 3 clients in a row, I was so tired. I definitely had a few men that had a creepy vibe but nothing happened beyond them just being creepy, thank goodness. Anyway, in 2008 I got a municipal job..only part-time but I wanted my foot in the door. A few years later I got full-time and am still there now. After 2008, I have worked as a RMT here and there after getting my licence renewed. However, it is expensive for membership fees and insurance if you are doing it very little. I am now 45 years old and I wish I could have used that time, money and my brain for getting a better education. It would have been great to get a diploma or degree that could have lead me to a good career. I now have a home, husband and kids so getting into a new career is becoming less and less of an option. I still feel like the desire to go to back to school but then it hits me, my responsibilities and money has to go towards other things. Anyone thinking of this as a career I would say keep looking. Especially if it will be your sole income and you don't have much to fall back on financially. It was a struggle for me and I didn't have much to show for my career but school debt (I finally paid that back after my municipal job) and a sore back.

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  26. 5+ years male massage therapist here. I absolutely hate my life. I'm now 1.5 years into education to be a software engineer and I count the days until I can quit my massage job.
    This comment thread made me so happy to read and find others who feel the way I do.
    Screw this horrible career and the dreams it took from me.

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  27. I've been doing massage for 10 years now and it never gets better. I hated this industry after the first year. It never pays enough. The busy times don't last long enough, and then the rest of the year is slow. I can't recommend massage as a career to anyone. I'm glad I found so many other people who hate massage as much as I do. I'm now going back to school to get a STEM degree so I can have a REAL job with a REAL career making REAL money. So sick of massage. Going to massage school was the worse decision in my life.

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