Pink trunks

I had a interesting encounter at work yesterday.

By the way, you will notice that I was not wearing my typical work wardrobe. No t-shirt or shorts or anything of the kind. I wore a nice dress shirt and trousers for the day. One of my clients that I worked on yesterday made a request early on that I look "respectable" whenever I would meet with him in his apartment. He told me that he didn't want his neighbors to see him dealing with a "sloppily" dressed person. 

IMO, I don't look sloppy, even when I am wearing a t-shirt or shorts. I am a massage therapist, not a banker. Besides, why would I want to look sloppy in front of my clients? I always try to wear clothes that are appropriate for the job and for the client. 

However, I go with the philosophy that the client is always right. If a client wants me to dress up, then dress up I shall.

Anyway, back to my encounter ... after I finished the massage session with my client, and as I was leaving the apartment complex, I bumped into this dude. The dude was wearing pink swim trunks. Actually it looked more like underpants.

He was heading for the pool. He was definitely drawing attention to himself.

Anyway, he noticed that I was carrying a massage table. He came up to me and started asking me questions. We chatted. I told him that I was a massage therapist. He said that he was interested, that he could use a massage. I gave him my info. I haven't heard from him yet.

I thought that it was ironic that I was, relatively, dressed up for work so that I would look "respectable", but then you have this dude who is a resident there who was hardly dressed at all. I wonder what my client would think if he saw this dude strutting around the complex.

model behavior

I was hired to do a photoshoot by a colleague of Meagan's.

I am always happy when someone hires me for a photoshoot.

We did the shoot a couple of weeks ago. It was a two part photoshoot.

 The first part, we did in front of an abandoned building. I was modelling urban street wear, or hip hop wear.

The second part was a bit more challenging. I had to interact with another model.

The theme of this shoot was "sweet innocent girl falls for a bad boy". I played the role of the street tough dude that this nice girl falls for.

It was challenging, but it was fun. The girl that I worked with was super cool. I give her credit for making the shoot go smoothly.

Massaging, hot tubbing and almost throwing punches

Would you believe some of the things that I have done to please my clients?

Like hot tubbing.

Yesterday, I hot tubbed with one -- actually two -- of my clients. 

The clients were husband and wife.

 These clients have a beautiful landscaped yard. They were very proud of their yard. They allowed me to be photographed in it.

About the hot tub matter ...

The wife wanted to be massaged before getting into the hot tub but the husband wanted to get his massage after hot tubbing.

The husband could have used the hot tub while I was working on his wife. But no, he wanted to watch first and then have his wife join him in the hot tub after her massage. And after that, that was when he wanted his massage.

I go with the philosophy that the client is always right. If that is what the client wants, the client will get it.

But there was a twist. The couple wanted me to join them in the hot tub. I didn't want to. That just wasn't part of my job.

They told me that they didn't want me to be moping around being bored while they were in the hot tub. That was why they wanted me to join them.

I politely told them that I would take a pass. But they were persistent. And they did it in a good natured way.

So I ultimately said yes. 

Don't stare

But there was one more twist. The couple hot tubbed in the buff, which I couldn't care less about. But they encouraged me to do the same. I didn't want to do that. You shouldn't cross the line of professionalism with your clients.

Again, I ultimately did obliged them. I didn't want to upset the clients. And I didn't want to make it seem like it was a big deal. Just wanted to get it over with. 

It was really awkward being in the hot tub naked with them. I managed to get through it. At least, the couple was easygoing. We had an awkward but sort of interesting chat in the hot tub. It was surreal.

 She is their children's nanny. She is the one who took that naughty picture of me. She's cool. I have had good interactions with her in my past visits to the house.

By the way ...

We met up later that night. She called me and told me that I left some items at the house. She called me in the middle of my workout. I went to pick it up. When I got there, I got my stuff and she told me that she needed a ride, so I gave her one.

I didn't feel comfortable just dropping her off in that part of town. So I walked her the rest of the way. I almost got into a fight because some a-hole was harassing her. 

It was a long day.

Colorful Venice

 I love going to Venice, even if it is for business. 

I have some clients who live in Venice. These clients just happen to be the laid back types, which happen to be my favorite type. I don't know if there is something in the air or water in Venice that makes them so easygoing. Venice is a cool kind of place.

 I usually wear something colorful and goofy when I visit these clients, to blend in.

 I want to appear cheerful when they see me at their front door, even when they are already in a good mood. These are the kind of people who appreciate whimsy.

I always leave myself an hour or two of free time, if I can manage it, after my massage session with these clients, so I can just hang out at the Venice beach promenade.

Sometimes I even go for a massage at one of those massage parlors on the promenade. Even a massage therapist need a massage every so often.

This dude works at one of the parlors on the promenade. I got acquainted with him while he was giving me a full body massage, a while back. We shared stories about all the crazy experiences we have had with customers and clients. Strangely enough, we have become friends.

I have worked at massage parlors before. There are differences in working as a therapist compared to working at a massage parlor. The licensing requirements and training are vastly different. And often times, clients or customers have different expectations for what a massage therapist does and what a masseuse or masseur does.

Take your buddy to work

You heard of "take your daughter to work day". 

On Friday, I had a "take your buddy to work day".

My friend Brenden crashed at my place the night before. 

He drank too much. I couldn't let him try to find his way home in that condition. So he wound up sleeping over for the night.

Brenden

I didn't want him moping around my place while I was at work. So I brought him to work with me. I didn't have time to drive him home first. It would also have been in the wrong direction anyway. My work schedule had me in the downtown area. And he was too lazy to take public transit.

He even had to borrow one of my shirts.

I had to spend half the day with him. It wasn't so bad though. We had our fun moments between my massage sessions with my clients.

strapping it on in NYC

After I made my obligatory appearance at the fashion house, I went about exploring the city.

I discovered this underwear/swimwear for men store.

The store offered many more styles of underwear than you will find in a typical department store. I was kind of excited to see undies every which way I turned. I was thinking of all the possibilities for me.

I bought more than a few pairs of undies and jock straps.

 After I made my purchase, I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to try them on. I put on every single one that I bought.

Thank you Meagan for putting up with the underwear dude in your room. I think she got sick of seeing my cheeks. 

A day and half in NYC

 Whenever I have a chance to go to New York City, I take it.

I had that opportunity last week and I went for it. It was only for about 36 hours. But I still had a good time.

Meagan had a business meeting with one of her fashion designer collaborators in NYC. She managed to get them to pay for an extra plane ticket for her "assistant", me, to accompany her. If she didn't get that free extra ticket, I wouldn't have gone. I had to share a hotel room with Meagan though.

I had to make an appearance with Meagan, as her assistant of course, at the fashion house. I got to see the work rooms and studios of the designers. That was very interesting, but I have done that before. The meetings were a different story though. They were kind of boring.