There are scenarios when we might get put on the spot. “Describe a difficult situation you were in and how you handled it.” What had happened was…
Image Credit: April Heath LMT
At the time, I was working in a lush high end spa. One day, I went to collect a male guest for 50 minutes of the most expensive massage on the menu. I had just begun massaging his back with heated stones when there was a knock on my door.
A supervisor came in, informing us that the service was supposed to be in a couples suite. My client asked, “What’s your professional opinion, Miss April? What should I do?”
This is always a hard choice to make, but I know what the consequences are of interrupting a massage in progress, stepping out, letting him get off the table to put on his robe, come out, go find the other massage therapist and the other client, take the suite and start over.
“In my professional opinion,” I said, “We’re going to lose a good fifteen minutes of treatment time if we switch rooms. It’s better if we stay here.”
“Alright, Miss April,” he said. “I don’t want to lose treatment time.”
The supervisor nodded her head and left. A few minutes later, there was another knock on my door. This time, it was my client’s wife and she wasn’t happy.
“I need a few minutes with my husband,” she said.
“Very well.” I stepped out of the room and waited. A few long minutes went by before she came out.
“We’re canceling the massage and leaving.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” I asked. There would be a courtroom drama defending myself to management; I could feel that coming. Lost revenue, bad reviews, negative word of mouth.
“It’s my birthday,” she said. “We paid extra to be in the couple’s room and this is not a good experience.”
“I see. I’m sorry to hear that.”
Using idle time to think
The man came out next and the two of them walked back to the locker rooms, while I turned over my room. As I replaced the used linens with clean sheets, it became clear that I had to bite the bullet, face her, and find out why they were leaving. I had a feeling she had no idea what my rationale was for not switching rooms.
I went to the front desk and there she was, standing with her arms crossed by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pool. I approached her and asked her to talk to me, because I didn’t understand the level of importance in having their services in the same room.
She turned her head away from me, so I took a step closer. “Seriously, talk to me. I want to know.” I sat down on the upholstered bench, patting the empty space next to me. “Have a seat. Talk to me.”
The truth comes out
She relented and took a seat. “It’s my birthday. We came all the way from Atlanta where we have a restaurant. For him to say he doesn’t want to be in the same room with me. No, that’s not what I came for.”
“I see. He asked for my professional opinion on whether to stop the massage and change rooms. When he told me that his neck, shoulders, back, and hips were tight and bothering him, I said to myself I need every minute. That’s a lot of big muscles to assess and treat. To change rooms means losing a good fifteen minutes in the process, which would mean he’d get off the table disappointed that I didn’t get him the results he asked for. How can I knowingly take a course of action that leads to his disappointment?”
Her shoulders untensed and a new level of understanding came over her face.
“I’m sorry the call center didn’t book your service as couples. If that had been done correctly, the other therapist and I would have known exactly what to do. We would have had the suite ready, picked you both up at the same time, and taken you to the right room. That one error led us here.”
She pointed to the spa’s front desk. “It’s their fault!”
“No, no. That’s our front desk. You got the call center, which isn’t even on property. They have no idea how the spa operates, and people make mistakes. This one was catastrophic.”
Clearing up the misunderstanding from miscommunication
“When the supervisor came back to me and said my husband didn’t want to be in the couples room with me–”
I made a face. “That’s not exactly what he said. He said he didn’t want to lose treatment time. Now if you both run the restaurant and you have the same muscle aches, if he lost treatment time, then that would mean you would also lose treatment time. I’d already started his massage. I’m not gonna lie; I have great hands, and he’d already started relaxing. He didn’t want you to lose time either.”
She softened some more.
“First and foremost, I’m a massage therapist.” I pointed to the spa office. “They ride us like donkeys. And we put up with it because we care about our clients. We can’t help that. If I had to go back and do it again, my professional opinion remains the same. Don’t change rooms. We’re like your servers and chefs. You want them to put their hearts into the work so the customers enjoy their time and have nice things to say about the food. It’s the same. But the clock is ticking on us.”
We looked into each other’s eyes and there was mutual understanding. I waved my hand at the wall separating the reception area from the spa. “You were back there. You know it’s paradise on the other side of that wall.”
She nodded and smiled. “Yes, it’s truly magnificent.”
“Don’t leave angry. Give us another chance to get it right. You came all the way from Atlanta, so don’t leave without getting what you came for. I’ll go talk to my manager and ask him to come out here and see what we can do for you. How does that sound?”
She threw up her hands and looked to the ceiling. “We have dinner plans and then we’re going back home tomorrow.”
“Let’s just see what my manager can do, hmm?”
She nodded. “Okay, Miss April.” Her husband came down the hall from the men’s locker room. I left them together and ran to the office. My manager was there, so I gave him a quick recap. “She’s this close-” I held my thumb and index finger within a millimeter of each other, “-to giving us a second chance. Go close that deal.”
And he did. Once their make-up appointment was set, he told me I was his hero of the day. We had almost lost all the revenue and goodwill, but my heart and conscience made me face her to get to the bottom of her problem.
Never mind the fact that they were 30 minutes late for the make-up appointment and two sheets to the wind. The second therapist and I looked at each other, shaking our heads. Do or die.
At the end of that day, they were all hugs, kisses, and smiles.
When a therapist invests her heart and soul into the work, it’s impossible to shrug off an unhappy client. That’s what caring does. That’s the soul of a true massage therapist.
Have you ever gotten out of a sticky situation? Leave a comment.
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