Can somebody tell me why I still do free work?

[Pompal 09.]

I give about 30 free massages a month to the under privilege and patients who just don't have the means to pay for therapy. My secretary does a fine job screening people in need. Yesterday, this very well dress lady of 59 years of age pulls up in her Land Cruiser Prado. At first I thought this can't be my 4:30 client. It was her with our one hour free massage certificate in hand. The session went great until almost the end when she wanted her inner thigh massaged. I found myself fighting to keep her leg in place. I was polite and moved on to her belly and finished with some energy work. When she walks out of the room she was still groggy. I sat her on the couch with her bottled water. She looked at it and was looking at the label like what’s this no Perrier. When she left not so much as a tip and said “I definitely have to send my husband”. I wanted to go home and scream. Here is a lady who could pay $20.00 for an in house session and doesn’t bother to re-book. Very frustrating and trust me I was about to send a memo reducing the amount of free work I will do monthly. Can somebody tell me why I still do free work?

 

[Chucky]

Can somebody tell me why I still do free work?

Very frustrating and trust me I was about to send a memo reducing the amount of free work I will do monthly.

you should.

she ought to be ashamed of herself. she obviously is not underpriveleged.

 

[Cathy :)]

Wow, a land cruiser in Panama, I bet you dont see many of those.

 

[just being honest]

The number of free sessions that you do every month (at least for her and her family) should be reduced to zero. If she calls and trys to schedule a free session, your community service vacancies are "filled up" but if she would like to purchase a session you do have openings.

How does your receptionist qualify clients for the free sessions? And how did this lady get a freebie certificate? Is there an organization that you could work through where you know that the clients would be need based?

 

[Pompal 09.]

yeah, how did this lady get her hands on this certificate? and after seeing her pull up the in automobile that she did, why didn't you say something?? good luck on this one.

 

[Whoo!]

seems odd to me... I want a land rover!!

 

[theShinning]

It appears that a student with chronic neck & back pain gave her free massage session to her teacher. She probably felt it would help get a better grade. A Toyota Land Cruiser Prado VX is one of the most popular vehicles in this country that sells for about $64,000.00 USD new . 40% of the population is super wealthy while the rest of fight over scraps. So we see many of these high-end SUV’s in Panama. Many probably will never see off road action. I really feel we need to cut back on free sessions. Massage supplies are getting more and more expensive. I spend more on shipping to Panama than what the item cost. Perhaps by reducing free massages by 50% this will allow us to increase profit margin. I have dreams of relocating near one of the major US chain hotels this year.

 

[rukkit]

there are times, too, when i am so frustrated. but i have to tell you, i love being able to do free work - if i could open the doors and do it all for free, i promise - i would.

i, too, have found myself in the midst of an 'issue' where someone was given a much discounted rate and later the referring person told me how "loaded" she was. then why did that long time client refer her to me and tell her her that i work with people with limited income?

maybe a better way of screening, i'm not sure what the answer is. but i often feel better knowing that i'm not alone in my frustration.

we can be frustrated together! good luck
amanda

 

[Pompal 09.]

People (& experiences) like this are exactly why I do not give any discounts based on income, age, occupation, or whatever. Too much screening, too much hassle, and too much inevitable resentment eventually. Those who really value massage and your time and skills will FIND a way to pay for it, no matter what their income. Even when we were sinking slowly into deeper debt, we continued to pay higher prices for organic food and we continued to search for a good chiropractor. Why? Because we place a HIGH value on untainted food and chiropractic care. (Luckily we're both therapists so we can work on each other, but we would've paid for that, too, because we VALUE massage. And this is with a NEGATIVE monthly cash flow at the time.)

If you have a soft spot in your heart for a certain type of person--a certain predicament (laid-off workers, terminal cancer patients, etc) or a certain occupation (military vets, police, teachers, animal rescue foster "parents" etc), then I honestly would give away 5-10 (or a number consistent with the number of these ppl you know) gift certs for half-hour or hour-long massages (the duration, of course, depending on how passionate you are about a cause or type of person), and give them freely with no strings attached. And I would definitely say that they're for THAT PERSON ONLY. No giving them away to rich teachers ks they want a good grade! Good grief. I'm sorry that happened to you. That was kind of low on the part of the person who received this generous gift from you, and IMO, rather manipulative on their part part for giving it to their teacher.

But that's just my opinion; and that's assuming I'm understanding everything right.

Peace,
~Jyoti

 

[Cara]

Can somebody tell me why I still do free work?

I give about 30 free massages a month to the under privilege and patients who just don't have the means to pay for therapy. My secretary does a fine job screening people in need.

Is she really doing a good job screening?
Perhaps you should review what your freebie massage criteria are.
30 a month is roughly 7 freebies a week. That would cut too much into my income for me to do that.
You could just be blunt and tell her that you offer free massage to those in need.
I think somebody(your client) needs to figure out her Latte Factor and save up for massage.

robyn

 

[anthonyny]

One hypenated word "Non-Transferable"
I truly commend you on doing so much free work, and its sad that your generous actions got manipulated forcing you to reconsider.