I have two professional pet peeves. One: Women complaining about not shaving their legs before a massage. I explain to them that we don’t even notice those little hairs. What we are focusing on is the feeling of the tissue beneath our touch and concentrating on that. Two: When clients show up late. I book my massage appointments every hour and a half. My massages usually take 70–75 minutes. When someone shows up late, then I feel I have to still stay in that time frame, which usually makes me feel like I rushed the massage. You should not rush craniosacral treatments.

Judith Way

Idyllwild, California

Clients who do not shower before sessions. And no-shows!

Cheryl Smith

Nashua, New Hampshire

It’s all semantics, but when I’m introduced, and people look at me sideways with raised eyebrows and a questioning look and call me a “masseuse,” it makes me nuts.

At the same time, it’s an opening for a brief educational response about the value of massage therapy today. If I’m the first massage therapist they’ve ever met, all the better to leave them with a more informed view of our profession.

Ellen Newton Stetson

Shreveport, Louisiana

My biggest professional pet peeve is MTs bad-mouthing other MTs. As a therapist, my concentration is on my clients and taking care of them. I really wish that this would be addressed in ethics classes. I would love to hear from other MTs if they have run into this.

Michelle buton

Johnson City, Tennessee

People with really long hair who come in for a massage and refuse to tie it up.

Patti Fradette

Chicopee, Massachusetts

My biggest pet peeves as a CMT have been the use of the terms masseuse or massage parlor. When anyone has referred to me as a masseuse, I never hesitate to take the opportunity to educate them by explaining how derogatory and offensive the term is. I have also explained the gender difference between masseuse and masseur to those who’ve interchanged them incorrectly. I politely inform them that I am a massage therapist. I have always been professional so as not to lose a potential client or rebooking.

Kathleen Adams

Modesto, California

As an MT, my professional pet peeves are people who arrive late, people on cell phones during the massage, and clients who make advances.

Cecelia Rex

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I absolutely despise when people think it’s funny to make sexual references immediately after I tell them what it is that I do for a living. I also get angry when someone doesn’t show up for an appointment, as if my time isn’t as important as theirs.

Christy Swiatkowski

Niagara Falls, New York

Answers from Facebook

The clients who move themselves into the position they think you’re trying to get them into, when in fact you’re doing something wholly different.

Xach Fromson 

When clients text during their session! Come on.

Brooke Bond-Spaulding 

This question is a pet peeve of mine! Come on! We are in a profession of compassion and making someone feel better. They are paying us and it is their time on the table. If they want to chat, fine. If they want to be completely quiet, fine. They don’t tip, fine. Every single client is different and that means we have to adapt to their needs. I’m convinced that some of my clients come to me because they need someone to listen to them and they know that what they say will not leave the room. And if that’s what they need that day, then I did my job. I have a great satisfaction at the end of the day knowing that I made someone feel better for an hour out of their day.

Vicki Adams Morgan