I have these clients who are a lovely older couple, they are eastern European immigrants, raised their kids in the Cleveland area and reside here. They go to Florida for the winter. Mrs. V is a super nice, bubbly lady. Very friendly, loves her monthly massage. Mr. V is VERY quiet. He has a video game of some sort that he plays while she is getting her massage (she reads when she waits for him). She gets an hour, he a half hour just on his back (which is like a slab of rock , I tell you, though felt better last week). Mr. V seriously hardly spoke a word to me the first 5 or so times I saw him. He does have a thick accent, but I think he is also just a reserved, quiet kind of guy. Well, Mrs. V's Mom is alive and well in Germany at the age of 93. Mrs.V travels there to see her as needed, and went over in October. Mr.V cam in for his half hour in October, and scheduled another half hour for November (last week). He came in last week and seemed a little friendlier from the get go. After his session, we sat in the waiting area and I asked him when Mrs. V was coming back and should we schedule appointments - Yes, she'll be back Dec 1st. Despite my fearing that the response might be that she has died, I asked about Mrs. V's mom, and he told me that she was doing alright, and was coming home with Mrs. V to live with them. He went on for a bit, and I nodded and occasionally tried to verbally state that I thought this was a good thing. He told me how health insurance for the mom was a concern but the German consulate had worked with them and quickly granted permission for her to come live in the states but German insurance would not be coming with her. A few minutes into all he was telling me about, his eyes filled up with tears, which I noted , and next thing I know he is calmly crying and wiping his eyes as he continues to talk. I figure because he is talking to me about his very old mother in law and his wife who he misses and they are both getting older as well (they are in their 70s). He said more than once " I told her, whatever she wants to do, she told me she wants to tell her mother, whatever you want to do, Mom, so this is what she would rather do (over assisted living in Germany). I am also sure that being without the Mrs. for 2 whole months has left him seriously lonely and needing to chat with somebody. I sat with him for 45 minutes, the last 20 of which were ALL abut the condo he owns in Florida and how they drive down and will drive down with Mom and she will have her own room and bathroom, etc.
I was glad that I had a nice big break to sit there with him. When I did finally say " Well, I should probably switch my table up and get some lunch" He said "Yes yes of course" and we stood. I give all my clients a little dixie cup of water, and he had his empty, I held out my hand and said "I can throw that out for you" and he just grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze, total old man style. So damn cute.
The following day I had one of my regulars, a woman in her late 50s/ early 60s. Before her appointment when i asked her how she was feeling, she said she felt pretty crummy and proceeded to inform me of her chronic UTI's (Bummer - those suck..) After the session, we sat and I stated that if she wanted to, next time we could try some shiatsu, and told her how the body has a bladder meridian and perhaps it might help and couldn't hurt. Bam - 35 minutes later I have heard WAY TOO much about her bladder surgeries and issues and on and on.
Point being here, that I thought maybe there was something in the air last weekend, but really I think there are always folks who just need to talk to someone. Hopefully, not the same folks all of the time, but we all have those stretches of time and if we haven't yet - well, I think our 60s and 70s will have at least some of that in store for us. It is good to be able to listen to and be a part of these conversations, it makes people feel better probably just as much as a massage does.
Just thought I would share. Makes me appreciate my clients and people in general more so.
On the total other end of the spectrum of my profession, some fucking freak called me 9 times in a 2 hour time frame the other night. I finished a session around 6pm and saw i had missed calls and listened to a voicemail from this guy who saw my ad and wanted to find out about making an appointment. He had called twice and left the one voicemail, so i figured he meant to leave the voicemail and accidentally hung up or something. He mentioned specifically in his message that he was looking for a therapist to do very deep tissue work, trigger point and neuromuscular therapy. I do deep tissue and learned some trigger point work. I have also been doing a lot of deep tissue work lately, and it is hard fucking work, so I was not anxious per say to get this guy in for an appointment. He called my cell again , and i thought that was strange , what would he leave a message about this time - no message - just that and a half dozen more calls between my cell and house phone. I was sitting in my kitchen eating and talking to perren, who had a lot to talk to me about, and the house phone rang twice, my cell then once. I mentioned to P " I've got some psycho calling me for an appointment"
First, P said "maybe he really needs some help massage wise"?
To which I said " ummmmmmm... no.
There is no reason to call so much, not normal. at all. who the hell does that? can you imagine doing that? you leave a message and if i call you back tomorrow, thats the deal"
P got back to what he was telling me about and my cell rang (by the way, the calls to my cell were all "blocked" after the initial 3) P answered it (somewhat compulsively I think, also he (P) was all pissed off and who better to take that out on than some random freak stranger?) I heard his side of the call which consisted of "No, I don't do the scheduling for her, but I spoke to her earlier and I think she mentioned that she got a message from you.....yeah.... usually it may take her say, 24 hours to give you a call back ..... yeah.....OK?
Gonna go ahead and NOT get back to that guy. It can be hard, wanting new clients and all and wanting to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but I learned my lesson WELL in santa fe when it comes to motherfucking ads in publications.. take no chances, listen to thy gut. I did/do kind of want to call him back to tell him that no, i can't schedule him an appointment and BTW, is there a particular reason he called me 9 times consecutively? I thought OCD, but I don't think that makes sense - does it? Maybe, maybe and OCD sufferer. WWGD - What would Grandma diagnose? I think she would say something like "a fucking psycho, DO NOT call back".
I'm going with that.
