Massage allowance?

[ch4rli3]

Hi Everyone.

Does anyone have a massage allowance at their place of work?

The salon I work at does not, but my friend that works in a salon not far from me,, said they have a massage allowance policy, which is, that each therapist should not carry out more than three hours massage per day and each massage should be broken up with different treatments in between, ie, they are not allowed to have 2/3/4 massages in a row.

I have never heard of anything like this, has anyone else?

 

[Elaine143a]

We dont have actual policy, but i wouldn't book a lot of massages in one day. Two is more than enough (although I would book one after the other if necessary) but will at a push book 3 (not in succession tho).

I personally feel this benefits both the therapist and the client.

 

[rouge]

I think from a health point of view there should be a limit on how many massages a therapist should be expected to do in one day. At the last salon I worked at, I several times had massages booked in from 9 in the morning til 4.30 in the afternoon, with a half hour break for lunch. It was completely ridiculous, and by 2pm my forearms had gone numb through overuse. I was not a happy bunny.

 

[ch4rli3]

Yes I agree, tomorrow I am working 9 - 4. My first client is a 30 minute back massage and then I am fully booked for rest of the day with full body massages, some of those being 90 minute massages!!

I am not looking forward to it!!

 

[LADY STARDUST]

I'd speak to your employer about this if you feel it is affecting your performance. For this reason alone, we were never allowed to do more than 3 massages per day including reflex, indian head etc where i used to work.
Fortunately at the time there were 3 of us working together so it was easier to spread the work out.
Have a chat with your boss and see if you can come up with some sort of compromise...xXx

 

[ch4rli3]

Ive seemed to notice that if some one has a massage booked in, its gets moved over to me if I have a space become available.

Like yesterday, I had a waxing treatment booked in, and later in the day, I notice my waxing client had been moved to another therapist and a Hot Stone Massage booked in with me, even though the other therapist had more than enough space for the Hot Stone........ I know she doesn't like doing massage, but its beginning to annoy me, as as much as I like them, I cannot perform them over and over again all day.

My arms begin to crunch as soon as I massage and I have trouble with my right wrist clicking and crunching during a treatment.

I am going to have to say something!

 

[rouge]

Ive seemed to notice that if some one has a massage booked in, its gets moved over to me if I have a space become available.

Like yesterday, I had a waxing treatment booked in, and later in the day, I notice my waxing client had been moved to another therapist and a Hot Stone Massage booked in with me, even though the other therapist had more than enough space for the Hot Stone........ I know she doesn't like doing massage, but its beginning to annoy me, as as much as I like them, I cannot perform them over and over again all day.

My arms begin to crunch as soon as I massage and I have trouble with my right wrist clicking and crunching during a treatment.

I am going to have to say something!

Yes you definitely need to say something. Crunching and clicking are warning signs that damage to your arms has begun to occur, and it will only get worse if this issue is not addressed. Whether the other therapist likes it or not, she has to take her share of all the treatments, otherwise you will end up really resenting her attitude.

 

[ch4rli3]

Thanks for your advice Rouge.

Do you think it's something I should see a doctor about, the crunching and clicking, because probably the last month, it has been hurting, not just while massaging but on a daily basis.

I was going to make an appointment a while ago, but I didn't as thought if I couldn't do massage, i'd lose work and money!!

Silly really, I should get it sorted!!

 

[rouge]

Thanks for your advice Rouge.

Do you think it's something I should see a doctor about, the crunching and clicking, because probably the last month, it has been hurting, not just while massaging but on a daily basis.

I was going to make an appointment a while ago, but I didn't as thought if I couldn't do massage, i'd lose work and money!!

Silly really, I should get it sorted!!

Well, you answered your own question there. Yes, go and see the doctor, as soon as you can. If you don't get it sorted, you'll end up not being able to massage at all, and then where will you be?

You can do a course in hands-free massage if you get continuing problems. If you want to know more, pm Fozzyo, I know he does hands-free massage, and I think he does training courses in it too (don't quote me on that though!)

 

[tog]

Thanks for your advice Rouge.

Do you think it's something I should see a doctor about, the crunching and clicking, because probably the last month, it has been hurting, not just while massaging but on a daily basis.

I was going to make an appointment a while ago, but I didn't as thought if I couldn't do massage, i'd lose work and money!!

Silly really, I should get it sorted!!

Maybe your GP should write your employer a letter stating that you are unfit to perform massage treaments for the next few weeks until he assesses you again. That should send out a strong message - your employer has a duty of care towards you and if you develop an ongoing health problem due to having an unreasonable number of massages booked in, apart from time off, who's to say that in the future you won't be suing the salon for loss of earnings if you can't work due to wrist/arm pain?

Your employer is sticking his/her head in the sand over this situation, and I can't believe how selfishly your colleague is behaving. You should have a frank conversation with her about it and tell her not to move all the massages over to you. Would she find it acceptable if you just changed all the treatments you disliked doing over to her column? I very much doubt it. You are letting her walk all over you -DON'T ! It's your health that will be affected in the long term.

 

[bombini]

I think most spas tend to have a policy of no more than 3/4 massages per day but I feel even that can be a bit excessive if you are doing it EVERY day.

There was an inflight beauty therapist that sued Virgin for something like £300,000 a few years ago because she damaged some body part from constantly doing massage. Im suprised its not happened against a salon or spa yet to be honest. Im sure there was a link to the article on a thread posted on this site.

My wrists start clicking as soon as I do a massage now and Im convinced its from when I worked in a spa doing up to 5 hours worth of massage a day

 

[Mouffloncake]

Now that I work for myself, I manage my massage bookings so that I don't end up over doing it.

When I first started working in a spa, 6 out of an 8hr shift would be massage. I had to keep kicking up a fuss over it & it was a horrible atmosphere
I was just shocked that they kept trying it on with me having told them from the outset that I has metal rods the lenght of my spine from surgery.

In the end, my GP wrote to the spa, pulling me off massage all together.
Then, the spa started booking me in for "facials" only to find that they were really massages but I wouldnt discover this until the client was in my treatment room!!

Not for the want of trying, I ended up having to hand my notice in.

I think that there should be indsutry guidelines which spas/salon should follow as far as massage hours go. At the end of the day, if the therapist is whacked, it wont do anybody any good.

x

 

[tog]

Now that I work for myself, I manage my massage bookings so that I don't end up over doing it.


I was just shocked that they kept trying it on with me having told them from the outset that I has metal rods the lenght of my spine from surgery.

In the end, my GP wrote to the spa, pulling me off massage all together.
Then, the spa started booking me in for "facials" only to find that they were really massages but I wouldnt discover this until the client was in my treatment room!!


x

That is a disgusting way to treat you. I am shocked. How unprofessional, a spa too - supposed to be a place where clients go to get a feeling of well-being, and look at how they treated their staff. I suspect that even some of the clients would have been shocked had they known how you were being treated.
I hope I never have to work in a place like that. I bet they were coining it in too, charging top dollar I should imagine.
Shame you didn't take your story to the press and expose them. That's how strongly I feel about employers like that.
It's a shame you didn't go to an employment tribunal for constructive dismissal or whatever