Unfortunately, the perception of massage has often been misconstrued by some to mean a bit more than a therapeutic bodywork session.
Response from Institute for Integrative Healthcare Studies I feel I handled the situation as best I could and it worked out well, as was clear by the outcome, so I don’t think there’s anything I would change.
If you were confronted with the same situation again, how might you handle things differently? Response from Sharon Gibson, LMT I did not try to embarrass or humiliate him in any way and just dropped his initial improper assumption. He had never actually experienced a professional, therapeutic massage prior and was so impressed he left me a very generous tip. Fortunately he didn’t force the issue and accepted the massage on my basis. When this became apparent, quite soon into the massage, I very calmly and professionally explained to him the difference between what he expected, and the nature of what I had to offer. When I first began practicing massage therapy, back in the mid-70s, when legitimate therapeutic massage wasn’t so commonplace as it has become, I had a young male client who assumed he was there to receive more.
