I had a massage today.
It took me 6 months but I finally remembered to check my extended health benefits, get a doctor’s note, make an appointment and go. Yes, this is the average time expended on things I WANT, imagine how long it would take me to, say, get my car serviced.
Quite a while and counting is the answer to that question.
I have had two previous professional massages. The first was a lovely wedding gift; a gift certificate to a spa. I received a massage and Simultaneous Manicure and Pedicure. Uh, the massage was separate. The mani / pedi were simultaneous. The massage was amazing. The woman who massaged me was named Ursula and had two thick braids and a Slavic accent. I’m not even kidding a little bit. She was really hardcore.
(The nail painting on that occasion was somewhat disconcerting because I had married in May but didn’t use the certificate until November and the 18 year olds fresh out of aesthetics school couldn’t parse that I was already married and didn’t want bridal toenail polish, no, please take the pearl polish away, no, I want red, no, really.)
The second massage was around this time last year when I was pregnant and achy. And it was okay but I was deeply disappointed that I felt very good on the table and then pretty much like lukewarm hell again once I got off the table. Can I afford $85 / hr for the rest of my life? No. Compared to my previous massage, that one was kind of meek and fluffy. The scented candles were nice but the therapist was holding back. OK yes I was pregnant but still.
I got my referral last week from the doctor and spent a week looking around the Mizzle and trying to get Saturday appointments. I finally got one for next Saturday at a nearby Wellness Centre but then I decided on Thursday that next Saturday is not soon enough so I called a few more places and lo, I did score an appointment for this morning at 9 am.
I love my massage therapist. I am calling her “mine” because I am going to go there until I have spent all my extended health benefits. And then it will be a new calendar year and I will go AGAIN for another $300 worth of massage therapy and then I will cry because I will be unemployed and not have extended health benefits anymore but on the other hand I wear the same jeans every day so I can probably find the money somewhere.
She was perfect. She had a sense of humour and good posture and strong hands. She told me my left side is longer than my right and then spent an hour trying to stretch my right back out again. She told me I would leave taller than I came in. She spent 15 minutes massaging my right hamstring. She did glorious things to my neck. She talked enough that I couldn’t hear the shitty music. Thank you! I hate the shitty music! It’s not soothing. It distracts me.
One of the best things she gave me was her business card. On the back, she drew a stick figure stretching, so that I won’t forget how.
But do you people know, should I be tipping her? It is more a doctor’s office than a spa. If she was in a spa, I would feel more pressured to tip her because you tip for other services at spas. She is definitely tip-worthy. But if my therapy is “medically indicated” rather than ooh I need a rubdown before my big date wouldn’t it be like tipping my podiatrist? Or my vasectomy doctor? (there, I think, you would tip in advance, just to be sure you’re getting the GOOD snip.) In other words, silly.
Thoughts, great massaged populace?
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She sounds fabulous. I totally forgot to use up my massage therapy benefit this year! And I have never tipped…unless it’s a neon-signed, open 10pm-10am enter through the back door kinda place I doubt tipping is expected or appropriate.
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Yeah, I also don’t think you tip the therapist. If she’s a professional RMT, at least. Except for gifts over the holidays, I mean. That might be appropriate, should you be in the mood to tell her your love.
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I don’t get tipping, full stop.
It makes no sense to me why we would tip anyone, so until there is some universal rule brought down from Mount Tipp, engraved in stone, I’m going to go with no.
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I have a friend who is training to be an RMT who answered the tip question for me just yesterday, actually. She said it’s not really appropriate to tip an RMT or while in a clinic setting, because they are being paid most of what you’re paying for the massage and it’s considered a treatment, like any other medical treatment.
However, if you see an RMT or any other massage therapist in a spa, then you should tip because they aren’t making nearly as much – she told me that 10-15% is appropriate.
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P.S. I heart the new blog look – it’s lurvely.
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Thoughts? I don’t have thoughts, just fitful desires, inexplicable urges and voice like God in my head directing me what to do. But if I did have thoughts, I imagine they’d be more or less as follows.
Back in 2007 when my spine went wonky and a disc herniated, the only non-drug relief available was my massage therapist. I would hobble in, bent nearly double, face white with pain, and leave an hour later with something like a spring in my step. The funny thing is that it may have done me more harm than good. My masseuse would urge me to take it easy, but I would leave her office and go for a walk because it felt so damn good to be able to walk again.
I tip my massage therapist, and it comes out to 12-15%. She’s a small businessperson who needs to make every dollar count. I’m a public servant with a good health plan, a strong union and a decent paycheque. Tipping builds a relationship and goes towards making sure that she stays in business.
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As a former massage therapist from a day spa, I sincerely recommend tipping. When in doubt, ask your therapist.
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Tipping in situations like this always stresses me out. Am I tipping enough? Should I tip? If I tip too much and see them again do I have to keep outtipping myself??
I tip when I use an RMT, because I go to one at a spa… Like 15%. Glad to know that is ok, from the sounds of it!
Is it just me, or does it feel somewhat unseemly to tip someone who just rubbed your naked body?
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You get massages with the extended benefits??
How do you do it? Do you have to tell your GP you’re feeling stressed, or can you just say “I think I’d like a massage, dollink, would you please write me a referral? And peel me a grape?”
Because I have extended benefits right now and I might not have them for long and dammit I want a massage!
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els – depends on your GP. Mine has her prescription pad at the ready & just wants you out the door so the latter would apply. just say you have tension headaches and kind of grimace while you rub at your shoulder.
my benefits guide requires a referral & I can claim up to $300 in a calendar year. I imagine some benefits programs would let you just go without a referral. worth checking, as the calendar year is drawing to a close.
I went to Queens Park Massage Clinic but in your neighbourhood (I think) my mom has had good massage at a place called Integrated Health Clinic.
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