Boss says: I’m running a spa – not a brothel...
MANAGER’S FEARS FOR SAFETY OF STAFF AFTER SEXUAL REQUESTS
A SPA boss has told how her staff are bombarded with requests from men for ‘extras’ – including one customer who threw a £5 note at a therapist before pointing to his groin.
Jennie Lawrenson, director of Spa Satori in the Northern Quarter, says staff are asked up to three times a day whether they provide sexual services.
She said it leaves them feeling violated – and sometimes fearing for their safety.
Recalling some of the distasteful requests staff are faced with on a daily basis, Jennie said: “One man came in for a massage, then asked ‘when can I come back for the sex?.’
“Another man was in a treatment room and threw a £5 note at a therapist and pointed to his groin.
“Another day three chaps came in, and one of them shouted ‘do you do extras?’
“Sometimes customers ask if they can be naked, or if you can be naked.”
Jennie said some men ring up with lewd requests, while others wait until they are also with a masseuse.
“They are actually qualified, insured therapists and this isn’t part of their role at all”, she added. Jennie said the ‘degrading’ requests have left her staff feeling vulnerable.
She added: “I feel angry because I am responsible for my team. We are a professional business. Nobody seems to care about that. We are just supposed to put up with it.
“Some of my members of staff are only 16, some say they don’t want to do treatments on men because of it.
“If you were a teacher or a nurse and this type of thing happened, there would be an uproar. Nobody talks about it, nobody cares. I don’t think it’s very fair.”
Jennie, 44, who has spent 15 years in the spa industry, said she believes men are requesting sexual services more often because of the increase in the number of brothels in the city, some of which offer massages.
She is calling on the government to introduce tighter regulation of the industry – with proper licencing – so customers know when they are visiting a fully qualified, insured and certified therapist.
She believes that would set businesses such as hers aside from brothels masquerading as spas.