I just got a massage from this little Chinese parlor around the corner. Never exactly subtle but it helps get the gunk out of my shoulders and so I go periodically. Usually its pleasant enough, if bare bones, and the price is good. $38. for 45 minutes. Anyway, I go to pay and of course plan to tip but before I can do anything the girl tells me I must give her $7, a 20% tip, as in I owed it to her. I was a little taken aback, and started to ask for change to give her this mandatory tip, suggesting they might want to raise their fees to cover that increase to make sure they get it because there will customers who might refuse to pay it (as I think its illegal?). Was truly trying to be helpful because I know what its like to deal with cheap people since I waitered. She said, “this is America, I get to make money too, i live these tips”, or something like that…So of course, I let it go. She was obviously upset. I felt bad. I wondered if she did live off her tips, which is awful. I never assumed that massage therapists lived off tips, figuring they took 30-50% of per hour/fee like hair stylists, who I still tip 20%. Its custom. I tip my laundry lady too.
It is a cash-only place though, so maybe they do actually live off of them. Awful. I’ve long worried about the full story of those who work in these places (when I lived in Chinatown, I went to similar establishments), as they can’t be fully legal. Not in some happy ending kind of way-worry, because there’s nothing but curtains separating you from another customer, but about whether those working there are exploited. Working for room and board, tips their only cash. OR maybe because there’s so many yipsters in the hood now, she was getting people who didn’t tip, and was just in a bad mood. Its worth remembering how many immigrants are exploited in this city in so many ways, and the statistical rise in human trafficking, which most prefer to ignore, is crazy disturbing. I tried to find info. on this online, specifically if low-budget NYC Chinese massage places were mob-run like their erotic counterparts, but couldn’t really. They may be independent businesses?
Some good news: landlord finally turned on the heat, yea! Grateful for that! And here’s a few photos I took today in the nabe, its feeling so autumnal! Plus a shot of this weird bug that just appeared by my lamp, no clue how it got in the house or what it is? This is getting to be a pattern. Things showing up out of nowhere as I write these nightly posts…hmmmmm. Of course I didn’t kill it, can’t do that, just scooped it into a glass and released in the hallway.Hopefully it will decide if it wants to go out from there as I was afraid to toss it outside since its so cold. S/he’s about 3/4 of an inch, substantial, and quite calm. It alighted on my wall right above my desk as I was typing this, and just stayed there (on this Joseph Beuys announcement card for a show at Oldenburger Kunstverein/1986, which I found in a local junk shop years ago). Oh wtf, I’ll take a shot of it and include too. Battery in camera is almost dead, so it was a one second shot. Ok, well if anyone has any idea what this flying insect is, do let me know! NITE NITE!
