I'm putting together our next fun back-page feedback column for ASCP Skin Deep magazine, and here's the question: What was your most memorable experience with a client? Good, bad, funny, scary, or inspiring⎯anything goes.

The other week we had hundreds of HILARIOUS replies to a similar question on the ABMP Facebook page (for those who don't know, ABMP is our sister association, Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals) which turned into an endless series of stories about ... oh dear ... farting clients.

Like the question says, it can be good, bad, inspiring or anything. What's that one experience you will never forget?

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I have a client who loves her treatments so much, she thanks me after every step.  After I cleanse her, she tells me how wonderful that felt and says thank you.  After face massage, she tells me that was the best facial massage she ever received, and thanks me.  After her arm massage, she thanks me and says, and I have one whole arm left!  She makes me feel so wonderful, as I know I'm making her feel wonderful!   :)

Awww, that is adorable! I love it!

How funny!

 

Bad=just started out as a new Esthetician...and opened my business.  Had a really nice but needy client who kept comparing me to her Esty she had for 8 years...loved the facial blah blah...well I waxed her brows and took a large chunk out.  I wanted to throw up!!  She flipped of course, I apologized profusely...then had to do her facial so she was in my bed for the next hour.  I know the energy just was bad after that...I comped the whole thing..She was one of those very high mait clients that needed to be handled with care and I screwed up.  I have been scared of waxing ever since.

Funny-Had the creepy wierd guy that had to take off all his clothes because his shorts pockets you know were full...then when I first put my hands on him he started moaning and going on and on about my touch and how great it was and how I should massage him and when I said its agianst my scope of practice he gavce me the creepy little noone has to know...he moaned the whole facial.  Half way through I look down and notice that his penis was very noticable under the sheet....YUCK...but funny none the less.  I thought I was being punked.  He gave me a $20 tip and I never saw him again luckily. 

Good-I have to say that my solid clients are all good stories.  They are all ladies that definitely don't take the time for themselves and it almost brings me to tears when I do their treatments because (not to sound corny) but I really feel like I am pouring all my energy into them just so they can feel better.  I had one client who suffered from a nerve damage issue in her face so I was freaked out to do her facial but I did it (she also was coming to Fl because she had a niece sick with cancer so very stressed) and she told me after her first facial that it was the most beautiful facial she ever had and that she was not telling me that to toot my horn.  She came back again while niece going through treatment and she wanted to get a facial straight from the airport.  She and her husband haven';t been back but their niece is cancer free so they aren't traveling here as much and I am ok with that because her niece is better.  There was also a time when I was in school gibving my sister a facial (she has some issues and needs some healing) so I thought I am going to give this all I have...I actually did tear up doing it for some reason, overly emotional I guess and at the end she said...OMG I actually forgot you were my sister that whole time...that was so strange!!  LOL 

Sweet revenge on the EX huh! People can be cruel, but it's the family that really bother us. Good for you for helping her feel better about herself!

oh GOD, that's what most of my book Spa Wars - The Ugly Truth About the Beauty Industry is about. We all have crazy crazy stories, to the point I could write a book about them and I did. I love hearing what everyone else has gone through so I don't feel like I'm the only one in this amazing industry! Working with the public definitely lends itself to humorous stories. Not sure how dirty we can get!! Truth is stranger than fiction for sure!

I'm working on a part 2! I'm looking for stories from other people!

CREEPY....to good. I used to own a small business (two rooms only).   I was with one of my regular clients in the treatment room and had "someone" knock near the front entrance (even though my sign said "in treatment, please have a seat and I will be with you shortly").  I peeked my head out and there was a man asking about facials.  I politely asked him to have a seat and I'd be with him in a few minutes.  I returned to my client and told her and we were both "semi" uncomfortable with the situation (thankfully, she agreed to stay in the room until I could see what this man wanted).  As I walked out to the reception area, he was sitting in a chair DRINKING A BEER, which he had brought into my business.  I immediately told him he could not have that in there and after a brief discussion about "services", I reluctantly booked him an appointment for a facial a few days later, when I KNEW my landlord would be in the building.  I went to work on that day, anticipating how I would handle any "issues" with this "new client".  At his appointment time, a woman came in (with the appointment card I had given him) and at first was very suspicious of the "appointment" her husband had made.  I assured her that it was NO PROBLEM that she had come for the appointment instead of her husband (she had no idea how "relieved" I was).  About halfway through her facial, she was finally relaxed and enjoyed her facial and even admitted her husband had "strayed" before and used "things like this" for "cover".  I assured her that IN NO WAY was my business about ANYTHING like that.  Yeah, it was a little creepy.....and SO glad it ended like it did!  She even tipped me WELL!

Wow Cindy. That is probably the weirdest way I've heard of anybody getting a good new client. I'm glad it turned out the way it did!

I had a client who I just could not please, no matter what I did!  She has sensitive skin but she thinks it is much more sensitive than it really is, so she had to "ok" every product I used on her during her first facial. She said once that she didn't like my music...she didn't like my decor...she even told me she was going to have a facial at a different salon! After that first facial, she wanted to to try a full body treatment, which she later told me she wasn't "all that impressed by" so she wanted to try another facial.  She complained about that. So she became my "nightmare client".  Then for nearly a year she stopped seeing me, which was actually alright with me ;)  So when she eventually called a year later and scheduled a facial I thought to myself, "I am going to rock her world!" Which I did!  She has been a loyal bi-monthly client for 4 years now!  She is still particular but we joke about it now.  I also refer to her as one my favorite clients, not a nightmare anymore :)

Awwwe thats a great story thanks for sharing Anne

Funny :

I had a very sweet elderly client come in for a facial on a gift certficate. Clearly instructed on how the velcro wrap was meant to be worn (along with the motions). Left the room, waited, and gently knocked prior to reentry. To my surprise she was standing there wearing it as a skirt ! LOL- it took all that I had to not. Acted as if that was the norm and got her under the sheets ASAP !

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