Chapter 1
557 Words
Chapter 1
I arrived early that afternoon at around 3. The sun was still high up and the weather was humid. The combination of the heat and humidity made me sweat as if I’ve run a few hundred miles. I took out a handkerchief and wiped my face dry. Then, I had to carefully fix myself, so I wouldn’t look too worn out.
I noticed the place was strangely quiet for a Saturday. Usually, I would hear Air Supply blare out of the windows and I would smell whiffs of Johnny Walker around the surrounding. That time was just plain odd.
With my get-down-to-business face and radiating smile, I knocked at the door. At the back of my mind, I was feeling lucky that day. Mr George Montero was a generous client – he’d never fail to give me a few hundred bucks tip when I service him during weekends. The Saturday gigs at his house became a regular thing a couple of months ago when he requested it. We agreed to have a fixed schedule instead of our previous on-call arrangements. He preferred Saturday afternoons because he was busy with work in the morning and he’d have some visitors coming early evening.
Mr George had been a loyal client for quite a while now and he’d always get excited every time he’d see me show up at his house. Unlike many other therapists he booked before me who most often failed him, either by coming in late or not showing up at all, I was the only one who consistently showed up. In addition – and this is according to him, my services were extraordinary. He was always pleased and satisfied with my services that he would refer me to his friends and even business clients. On some days, I get to bring home a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label.
I would make it a point to return Mr George’s generosity with professionalism. All the time. Not only did I avoid getting a bad review or complaint, but I also didn’t want to burn any bridges with my clientele. Keeping my clients, especially Mr George, was the topmost priority in my business. Plus, I badly needed the network. In my line of work, keeping clients and getting referred to other potential clients were essential to success. If I wouldn’t build around that and invest a significant amount of time and effort, my days as a professional massage therapist would be over in a snap. I had to take care of every client – a hundred per cent of the time!
I wouldn’t consider Mr George rich. I would say he sits just within the upper-middle-class. His house was a 2-story prairie in a quiet middle-class subdivision where almost all houses looked the same. He drove a Toyota SUV and he had a backup Honda sedan that his wife would use whenever he was out. Mr George was a businessman – I didn’t know anything about his business though – and he had a wide network of friends and clients. He had a lot of friends in government offices too. That network was one of the huge reasons why keeping Mr George happy and satisfied was critical in my line of work. It’s one enormous network of opportunities for me to build my client base around.
- Writer
