[jackbl]

Inside massage parlors: Blood tips
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Tuoi Tre undercover journalists cum masseuses continue to penetrate parlors and reveal more on how to please clients and bosses; how to maximize tips and minimize massage time; how to avoid police; how to turn a trick and other tricks up their sleeveless uniforms.

In the world of masseuses, success is defined by the size of tips from customers, 99% of whom are males seeking a titillating experience away from their nagging wives, if they have any.

A rule of thumb in the massage industry is the younger and more beautiful masseuses are, the bigger tips they receive. Of course, there is “old Thao” who bends the trend.

As the trick is to minimize massage time and maximize tips and since this takes time, “old Thao” has found one last straw to her advantage. And it serves her and her customers well.

‘Old Thao’ and her seasoned finger skills

Despite her sunset beauty and advanced age, “old Thao” receives better tips than her younger and sexier peers.

Nicknamed by the house to differentiate from another younger and more beautiful Thao, this elderly Thao - 36 years old to be exact - boasts a skill able to satisfy the pickiest customers thanks to her experience gleaned from years serving all types from teens, students, rookies to seniors and octogenarians.

In comparison, the average age in the business is early 20s while many long-legged newcomers are even younger than the required 18.

Of course, old Thao has to compete hard, sacrifice and follow the dictum “no pain no gain”.

Showing no indiscrimination, be it a young handsome sober man or a fat, beer-bellied and drunk dude her father’s age, Thao has to smile and be gentle every time.

When the customer plays it rough, she has to endure.

Thao told Tuoi Tre undercover journalist – a masseuse by now - that such selfless acts have cultivated an attachment so that patrons are likely to order her service next time.

As a reward, ‘old Thao’ always receives over 10 men a day on average, even on down days when her colleagues nail just 3-4 clients each.

Although the official massage time per session is 1 hour, old Thao can complete one in as short as 15 minutes and hence has more time to take on additional customers.

The tip lies in her skilled fingers that can ‘relax’ men within 15-30 minutes. Relaxation in the massaging dictionary means a blow or hand job.

“Men are all fun loving so if you give them pleasure they will be pleased to give you big money,” Thao said.

Another tip to earn fat money is to maintain contacts with wealthy and generous men. When they come next time, they could remember and ask for this or that 'number'.

Tuoi Tre journalist cum masseuse admitted that she was many times sent back by clients upon being seen at the room door. They told the manager “give another one more beautiful with smoother skin”, as your reporter sadly learns.

Sometimes your correspondent was driven out after a short time as she refused to be cuddled by those strange philandering men.

Of course, they rarely gave a penny in such circumstances.

Some masseuses rate clients by their appearance to guess how much they would tip.

For affluent-looking men, the girls have a tendency to become sweeter in the beginning in hopes of a big reward. For poor-looking guys, they tend to do a cursory job to move onto better potential clients.

Since the only signs of social status inside the massage rooms lie in just a simple loincloth distributed by the parlor, the girls have no choice but to judge from their client's skin and waist girth.

Upon spotting a lucrative prey, they would negotiate on different tips for hand or mouth job.


A boss’ harem

To survive in this massaging world, masseuse girls should also have to serve their male managers.

“You even have to give yourself to managers so that they will assign you to cater to generous men and you have more money,” a masseuse named Vi at parlor TP in Thu Duc District advised.

Tuoi Tre learns that owner L of the TP parlor comes to visit two girls there, Tu and Trinh, every night. He publicly introduced them to all his staff as his “concubines”.

Sometimes, he came and handed them thick wads of bank notes in front of jealous masseuses.

Many said they often see Tu and Trinh come to hotels with this owner after work. The reason is cited as “to meet and entertain some guests”.

So, by virtue of their connections, the two masseuses are always tasked with caring VIP clients who usually tip double.

My first VIP client

A parlor averagely keeps 20-70 masseuses, so girls opt to bribe managers and owners in cash and/or in kind.

Sweet words, gifts, money, or even sex have proved to be effective.

Mai, a 23-year-old masseuse at L parlor, advised: “Try to save money to buy the manager a small gift, she will give you generous and wealthy men.”

Some days later, I gave the manager, Thu, an envelope containing VND300,000 to “thank you for helping me in the past days”, upon which I was told to be more skillful so as to take on VIP patrons.

That night, she assigned me to a VIP room to ‘relax’ a man in his 50s.

As an introduction, she told the man: “this baby is a newcomer here, lovely, next time you come here and order number 9 to have her”.

Then, Thu turned to me and whispered that he is director of a real estate firm in district 7. “Very wealthy. His tips are up to a million VND”.

Tips to evade police

To avoid troubles, parlor owners devise a trick to avoid policemen and authorities’ inspections.

“Seeing the bulb [which is installed in every room] lit up means policemen are visiting and then, you must all step down to stand on the floor [not sitting astride on the client’s body on the massage bed] and massage only their legs and hands,” a manager told your reporter on her first working day.

“And in case, you are caught red handed ‘relaxing’ clients and forced to sign a violation minute, just refuse to sign”.

“Because on leaving the room, they have no evidence to accuse you,” the manager elaborated.