A little joke – Being called “Leatherboy”
Every once in a while, I like to joke around a little, as opposed to the more serious side of my work. I also do so regularly with my clients, after having had serious talks about stuff which needed being sorted out. Since most of my clients are returning customers I know them quite well and almost always the atmosphere is really relaxed in my practice. So, every once in a while it’s time to make things a bit less serious and most of the time this happens when the people are lying on my massage table.
One of the advantages of being both a masseuse and a counselor, is I get to coach people when giving massages. This can lead to the most interesting conversations. People also like to know a little bit about me and since I mostly have a good time when working on my clients, I get a little “tongue in cheek”.
When giving clients a massage it’s not only to simply relax, some of them have really tense muscles, especially when it comes to the shoulder area. Depending on the degree of the muscles being pliable (or not) the clients will feel a lot or hardly anything at all. The rule is the worse things are, the less they feel. Whenever the muscles become more pliable the pain will intensify. Now I’m not a person, who likes to have people suffer, but there are moments the clients prefer that I just get on with it and they accept it might be rather uncomfortable (to say the least). So I basically give them a choice, less pain, but then it will take a bit longer, or just push through the knots and be over and done with it.
Since I’m a female and not a very big one, most people are surprised to find out there is some power hidden behind my appearance. Especially since my upper arms are always covered in sleeves. Hardly anyone knows I’ve been training for a short while with some bodybuilders. So when I do get to push through those knots using all my bodyweight (which is more than most people expect) they are anything but amused. But then the fun begins. Right at that moment they start to accuse me of liking what I do best at that moment, inflicting pain and not feeling sorry about this.
I might need to explain this just a little bit. Whenever I push through those knots I apologize for the pain I might be causing. Please note that not everyone experiences it as painful. This varies per person, and not only per person, but also per shoulder. I’ve got a client who hates me for working on his right shoulder, so it’s almost always forbidden to do so, whereas he loves me for working on his left shoulder, making movement possible. He also hates me the first few hours the next day, since he’s all sore and then loves me since he can move freely again.
So I’ve got these clients who I apologize to and then they look at me (if that’s possible) and next they say “No, you don’t.” At first this made me think for a little while and then I got to agree I didn’t. Not so much because of me liking to inflict others pain, but simply ‘cause it needs to be done in order to be able to move again. Besides, this also enlightens the “suffering” for the client somewhat and if that’s what they need, then who I am to stop them from having some fun during these though times?
Now you might understand where this is leading to. After being accused of “liking” this, we get to the subject of me getting paid for making them suffer. I usually say this with a smile, saying something like… “Yes people think they come for a relaxing massage but while lying on the table they get to understand they’ve misinterpreted the meaning of SM as in Sport Massage. It’s a well hidden secret.”
To make things a bit worse I also get to relate to a nickname I once got being “Leatherboy”. This name is based on my last name, the first part being spelled differently and the second part more sounding like “boy” than like “girl”. I got this nickname when teaching a dozen or more guys who were known to be the toughest students to teach. They talked loud, but were actually the sweetest guys when you got to know them better and once you’d earned their respect. These guys also saw me as this little girl, till I started to talk. My appearance seemed to change and suddenly I was standing there “tall”, telling them about what they needed to know. To their surprise I actually knew what I was talking about and even more so, I was also very passionate about it. I’ll never forget them. They gave me a standing ovation afterwards and next I was the only one allowed to ever teach them and their colleagues.
If you combine this with this being my workout (instead of going to the gym, like I used to in the past, till I noticed I could stay away for months and still push away more then before), because of all the hard work I have while massaging, you might get a very interesting picture: “People paying me to do my work out, while in a meanwhile feeling like they’ve entered the wrong place, which was supposed to be relaxing or so they were told…”
The reason I’m telling you all of this has to do with me responding to a thread while being in a bit of a bold mood and I simply posted this statement:
“Let’s call this one of the secret pleasures in life…
I got a nickname I got years ago from a bunch of guys after having had them in my “class” for two days. They gave me a standing ovation later calling me Leatherboy. As you may know I also give massages and when I tell you they make up for my work out in the gym, you might know something else which makes me smile. And then getting paid for something called Sport Massage 
. BTW I do apologize but for some reason the guys never believe me…”
The first friend I showed it to, loved reading this. So she said, yes you can sure post it. It’ll show people a different side from you. The next friend who got to read it, said he was a bit shocked and not amused at all. It wasn’t till I explained the whole story, starting by this being actually a little joke, that he could appreciate the story. He also advised me to share it, combined with some more information. This friend usually refers to me as being very sweet, so this image was anything but understandable to him.
After having written this story, I do sincerely hope no one stays away from my practice because of any possible painful experiences. I like to exaggerate a little, so do my clients, so if you happen to drop by, please don’t worry. Just know that when it comes to relaxing massages, I most of the time give “in-depth” massages with a relaxing “touch” to it, leaving you able to move around ten years younger again (or just maybe a little less).
