I was frieinds with this bad person in college, before she got so rotten. She had this habit of making barter agreements with people that kind of evolved in between agreement and resolution. She made a deal with Brian: paint the house, get a couple of hours of massage therapy in exchange. He painted, she never had the time to do his massage. I offered her a spot at the renaissance festival booth. she turned it down and I gave the spot to someone else. She then came after me claiming," I was THINKING about taking it, how dare you give him my spot" we sort of stopped being friends then.
Now she is back in my life obliquely. A couple years ago, she asked Kevin to work on her Mother’s house. He did some construction stuff; knocking down walls, carting rubble away, whatever they asked. After a while of not getting paid, he asked Evil Massuese about payment and she said she would take care of it. A couple of times when he was working, she offered to rub his back and/or shoulders. She never discussed any fee for this. As a matter of fact, she never did a formal eval, took a health history, or had him sign any paperwork.
After doing work without getting paid for a while, Kevin stopped doing work without getting paid.
That was that until a little while ago when he called her to ask if she could recommend a good chiropractor (Yes, this was a very stupid thing for him to do). She responded by having her “communications counselor” send him a bill for 5 hours of massage therapy. BAD EVIL MASSAGE THERAPIST! With what documentation do you support this nonsense!
This nonsense affects me because Kevin is the drummer in my husband’s band. I can not prevent drummers from doing stupid things, but that does not mean it is right for this gorilla salad of a woman to do such things. It makes the drummer all anxious and wierd, which affects the band, which stresses my husband, which stresses me.
Also, Evil Masseuse and Kevin the drummer dated for a while, so we cannot entirely rule out the possibility that she is trying to charge for sexaual contact.
I apologize for the spelling error, I thought I corrected that when previewing.
This sounds like a perfect time to ignore the massage bitch and make sure the drummer does too.
Though the evil Bippy thinks getting the Drummer to send her a bill for the sex they had would be fun.
Reading your post, I wanted to ask, “So which is she, a masseuse or a massage therapist”, but this last sentence answered the question nicely. Masseuse it is.
BTW, haven’t seen you around the boards in a while, but I just gotta say that anyone who has a small parrot as part of their user name is in serious danger of becoming a friend of mine. Meet my little pal Shamus, the Senegal parrot, who, I understand, posts on this board if I leave the computer turned on when I’m out of the room.
He should absolutely send her a bill for the unpaid construction work, and it should absolutely be for a higher amount than the massage therapy bill.
The women has nerve, all right. :dubious:
Some day karma will get her. She will eventually mess with someone who has a lawyer on tap.
I assume since you talk of taking health histories, etc. she practices somewhere massage therapy is somewhat regulated.
The drummer should send a letter to the College and/or her professional association. Explain that an ex-girlfriend MT is suddenly attempting to back bill and perhaps renege on an implied barter agreement. Don’t threaten her you’ll do it, just do it. Don’t be confrontational, be inquisitive. Ask what the college’s position might be and any avenues of complaint.
Just have your buddy estimate costs/time for the work he was never paid for. I’m sure it will shut her the fuck up.
BTW, wtf is a “communication counselor”?
Sam
I’d tell you, but then I’d have to charge you.
That was my first thought when reading the OP. Sounds like some sort of quasi bill-collector-cult-leader-mindmeld type of person. In short: PIMP
If he ignores the bill, what’s she going to do? Does she have proof of her services?
Is she licenced?
If not, at least in the states I’ve lived, she can’t charge for massage, since its regulated by the state, in Washington, California, and Texas. I suspect other states have similar laws.
To be a massage therapist, (Masseuse/Massuersub[/sub] is usually interchangeable as far as the state is concerned) one must have graduated from a state approved massage school, then pass a state licencing board test. There is no state to state reciprocity.
To charge money, she must also have a business licence.
It would be nice if he was able to bill her for his work and actually get anything.
Unfortunately, she sounds like a True Blue User. He might as well, just write the whole experience off to his life education, and be done with it.
I’m a little embarrassed to see such pettyminded and wrong advice here. If he got suckered into free work then that’s what happened. Don’t try to “play her game”. That’s what you Pitted her for , for fuck’s sake.
Waitaminnit. It depends on what their original agreement was. If she agreed to pay him for the work, then he’s right to bill her for it. A lot of freelance work gets done that way: we agree on a price, I do it, I bill you for it, you pay the bill (unless you’re an asshole). If there’s no written agreement, then yeah, he’s probably screwed. If they didn’t agree on a set price (hourly or for the whole project) before he started working, then he’s really screwed. I don’t know what the laws are regarding verbal contracts, but I imagine they’re pretty shakey.
The reason she’s wrong to bill him for the massage is, there was never an understanding that he was going to pay for the backrubs she gave him while he was working for her.
Does anyone else want to see this end up on People’s Court?
conurepete, before Kevin started the work, did she say she was going to pay him? I was a little bit unclear if she was supposed to be paying him in massages, or if they even ever talked about the payment.
Gorilla salad–I’m not quite sure what that means, but it’s funny!
What a nutcase.
Well then what’s the “wait a minute” about?
from OP:
“I’ll take care of it” don’t mean jack.
I don’t know all the facts here obviously. I was just commenting on the “Just do it back” thing. If the drummer thought there was a barter, then proceed honestly along that line.
If they had a pay agreement then of course he should submit a bill to her. Looks a little fishy that he waits for her bill. The advice “make sure it’s more than her bill” that Kat said is definitely bullshit.
Agreed. IF they had agreed on a price or hourly wage ahead of time, than he should bill her for that, regardless of the price of her bill. If he just started working and figured “we’ll work out payment later,” then he’s a schmuck.
The only reason I didn’t say something asinine like “make sure it’s more than her bill” is because surely for construction work spanning many weeks’ time, the bill would be much higher than 5 hours of massage already without bloating the numbers.
Sam
Well, he is actually a shmuck. That is independently verifiable. I just don’t like her trying to exploit/hurt him.
As far as the state is concerned, maybe. In the real world outside the ivory towers of your friendly neighborhood state capitol building, a massage therapist is a legitimate practitioner, and masseuse/masseur is a euphemism for prostitute.
[sub]The Mango, who will do very bad things to you if you call her a masseuse[/sub]
She is a massage tharapist according to the reputable school she graduated from. I call her a masseuse because her actions indicate it.