We are all professionals and we would like to receive rave reviews from all of our clients. But what are they really saying to their friends, family, colleagues behind your back or on one of the many review sites that could hurt your massage practice?

The following is a recount of a friend’s experience getting a HotStone Massage that she purchased through Living Social deals….

“I arrived to find out that the place has been in business for less than 1 month. The receptionist (a guy who is the owner) showed me to my room. A Chinese girl (too young to be a woman) showed up and said….Can I help you? I was a bit confused and told her that I was there for the massage. She bent down, turned on the music from a radio/CD player and told me to hang my clothes on a hook and get on the table.

I thought that the light was too bright and asked her if she could turn it down, she said that it was on 1 setting, on or off. It did not take long before I realized that I was next to the office. I was able to hear the phone ringing off the hook and the guy talking and making appointments. He kept on bragging that through Social Living, he had 2214 bookings in 1 day. The girl started the massage on me. I could tell that she was a beginner. What bugged me was that she was chewing gum the entire time. She had these weird jerky movements that seemed so Chinese. She did these pressure points and as I was beginning to relax, she thumped my back with karate chops. When she was working on my arms, she twisted them back and forth then picked them up and dropped them down on the table a few times. That woke me out of my revelry rather quickly. Then she informed me that she was leaving to get the hot stones. She left the room, shut the door loudly and came back with the stones which she rubbed up and down my back. Then she left them on the small of my back and went to work on my legs. I had exactly 4 stones. She did the same things to my legs, pressure points, twists, thumped them and dropped them. The leg dropping moves caused the stones to fall off my back. I don’t think that I was completely relaxed the whole time because I had no idea whether it was going to be soft, hard, contortion or drop off :) . She kept on asking me in a very sharp tone, “YOU FEEL BETTER??” I was too afraid to say no! :) Because I have so much experience with the Chinese mentality and ways of doing business, I was trying really hard not to laugh, especially because she was so sincere and aiming to please. She left the room again to put the stones away. She came back with a hot towel and put it on my back. That was the best experience of the session….until she proceeded to use it to scrub my back and legs of all the massage oil. Then she told me to turn around. She proceeded to do some acupressure points on my face and scalp. She then moved to my toes, put her hands on both feet and pushed all my toes down to the massage table. Then she moved to my legs, bent them at the knees 90 degrees and pushed her body against it while pushing my knees up toward my chest. It’s a good thing that I am limber from yoga. It felt like she was squeezing the “pee” out of me :) . Then she lifted my legs really high and dropped them on the massage table. That signaled the end of my 60 minute massage. She told me to get dress and to meet her out front for my water. I was really trying so hard not to laugh. It was worth exactly 20 dollars for the entertainment. I left her a good tip because she was so sincere. I truly believe that she has no clue how jerky and bad she was.

I met her out front and she gave a a costco water. I stuck around and chatted with her. I found out that: she learned how to give massages in California, she moved to Canada, she is good friends with the owner’s daughter because they went to school together in China. Today was her first day and she just arrived from Canada this morning. Yes, she was amazingly sincere and unpretentious. She asked me if I wanted a foot massage and if I will return. I told her that one massage today was enough for me. She said : “Good bye ma’am, thank you so much for coming today” and I left to go pick up Emma.

As I am writing this to you, my body feels amazingly good for having gone through the interesting massage session. Maybe she did hit on some pressure points. The only thing that feels weird is that my right kidney is still aching. Maybe she bruised it when she did the leg to chest contortion :)

I don’t think that I will bring you there. I think that there are better ways to amuse ourselves. Just thought that you would enjoy hearing about my excellent Chinese massage adventure. I am glad that it was only $20. Since I am the 2nd person on Living Social to get the treatment, I can hardly wait to read the reviews.”

Now my friend is very patient and kind. She has chosen not to write a review on Yelp or one of the other review sites…but what about all the other clients who will visit this establishment. This is a good reminder to pretend you are the client. What do you see when you walk into your practice? What is the atmosphere like? Are the lights too bright? How are your massage/spa treatments? Are you allowing your clients a voice?