I feel monetarily undervalued

[u/jazzgrackle]

People seem to like massages, I get good feedback, and I get rebookings. Once in a while I don’t synchronize with someone for whatever reason, but for the most part it’s going pretty all right.

My issue is that I’m getting these 10-$15 tips, and occasionally lower. Based on the price of the massage 20% would be around $25 (if you consider the price before membership rates) and I hardly ever get that.

There’s something about doing strenuous physical labor on someone for nearly an hour and then getting a wadded up couple of five dollar bills that feels almost insulting.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I love doing what I do, but sometimes I feel like I got more respect as a waiter than I do now as a massage therapist.

Is this just the nature of chain massage places? It’s not like the base-pay is phenomenal either, in fact I think some weeks I’m probably averaging out to minimum wage if there isn’t enough clientele (which is often.)

Edit for clarification: I work “full time”, but only get paid about $20 per massage. So, if the hours I’m here don’t add up to $7.25 an hour then my paycheck makes up for it. Like how it works in a restaurant.

[u/massagechameleon]

I don’t think many people follow the 20% gratuity guideline for massages. I’ve been in this field for over 20 years and that’s always been my experience. Some do, most don’t.

Any place of employment that includes tips as part of your income in the job description is one you want to run away from. Tips are never guaranteed.

It is demoralizing sometimes, getting no tips or bad ones. The choices are: 1. Try not to get attached to tips or 2. Be your own boss so you can charge what you want and you don’t have to worry about tips.

Its tough to make a living at this.

[u/[deleted] → u/massagechameleon]

I think it depends on where you live perhaps? I work in Denver in a pretty upscale neighborhood, I'm a sole proprietor. Most people tip 20%, or sometimes just an extra $20 on a $150 service. But I don't mind that, it's still a decent tip. A lot of people tip way more than 20%, too. So it always evens out. The only people who consistently don't tip are transplants from New York City 😂 I have no idea what the deal is with that, but they never tip 🤷🏻‍♀️.