(Here is a profile of a massage girl. The name has been changed...)
Amber is a pretty 20 year old Latina from the Bronx in New York. She works in a massage parlor in upstate New York, where she has been since last summer. Amber grew up in public schools, and admits she didn't pay much attention to studies while in school. She adds, however, that aside from staying safe and being tough, there wasn't much to pay attention to in school. "You had to do what you had to do to get a rep", she says, "cause that was the only way they would leave you alone. If you got a rep for being bad, by doing bad, then nobody tried to beat you up. If you didn't get a rep, then some other girl needing a rep would mess you up, to get a rep. See?" What did Amber do that was bad, to get a rep? "It wasn't really bad", she offers, "but at the time it was bad enough. I smashed a girl in the face with a book without any warning, like a crazy. There was alot of blood, and I acted all crazy like I hated her, called her a b*itch and everything. I really felt bad about it later, but better her getting it than me, you know?"
Amber has been to several schools since high school, whcih she left in the 11th grade. Cosmetology school, where she claims they filled our lots of government forms for her that she had to sign, but she never had a real class until she had already left for another opportunity. "By the time they called me and said there was a class, I was into another program. It was like 8 months", according to Amber.
That other program was cosmetology school. Amber again signed all the papers, but at least this time there was a class in progress. Amber says she learned how to do makeup and hair, but didn't see any opportunity to make money. She left beauty school after 14 classes, spread out over half a year. I must admit, Amber does a nice job on her makeup and hair, and helps her friends. They are popular skills to have when you work in a massage parlor.
Amber works 6 days a week, 10 hours per day. She won't say what she earns, but it is close to four hundred dollars a day on average. "I see between 5 and 10 customers each day. On good days I make money. On bad days, with all the things I have to pay for, I don't make any money". Amber pays for supplies, chips in to cover some advertising costs, and supports her mom, her younger brother, and her little sister. She pays the rent and the bills.
I asked Amber if she likes her job. "It's all about the money", she tells me. "Guys think we like them, or they really like me, or they are interested in knowing me, seeing me every week. I tell them right away - it's for money, honey". Amber is quite direct and seems almost caring in her efforts to explain that she is not romantically interested at all in any of the men who visit her at the massage parlor. Then she adds some details of her past experiences: "I dated one customer once, he was kinda cute. Big arms - I like guys with big arms. He took me out, we went dancing, always paid for everything. It was kinda fun, but after a while I was like this is not for me. I think he was married." That wasn't the only time Amber was involved with a customer.
"One guy bought me a Porsche", she exudes."A real Porshe. I kept it at a garage - he paid for that too. I only drove it a few times, cause it was way too small and dangerous. But it was so cool to have a Porsche, and have the other girls see me driving this expensive toy. The guy was ok, but they say he was a player with lots of girls. He never gave me a hard time, though. Just wanted to see me whenever, and gave me a car since mine was unreliable. But a Porsche! I decided after that I don't want people to see me when I drive around. I want to be anonymous.. no Porsche, just a regular car nobody sees when I go by." I asked Amber what happened to the Porsche? "He got into trouble. It was his own company and he bought the Porsche with company money or something, and one day he just showed up and said he had to take it, and then he was gone. Never came back. That was good though, because I was hoping he'd forget about me anyway, but didn't know how to give back the car." Amber says he was too flashy and she didn't trust him.
According to Amber, when a guy knows you work as a massage parlor girl, he either cares or doesn't care. If he cares, then he tries to control you, get you to stop working, or find you another job. "But nothing good enough money to make me change", she says. "If the guy doesn't care, then who wants him? How can a guy care about you as his woman, but not care that you're with other men for money when you're not with him?"
Amber is off on Sundays. She drives her family to church (she doesn't go inside herself) and then they all go to the park. Amber likes to see the horses, and dreams of ownig a horse farm someday. "After I've made enough money, I'm gonna buy a farm and move away from everything. Hopefully I wil have found a good guy by then, and we'll raise horses together. Horses are amazing and sexy animals".
About her clients, Amber is gentle. "Most guys just have a hard life and want some release. They want to see a smiling, pretty girl who won't curse at them or be b*tchy.They just want to be left alone, and to get touched a little and have a little fun. It's like, for one hour the door is closed and nobody knows they're in there, and they're with a pretty girl who won't judge them. Then they walk out into the street and they become themselves again. The hour getting a massage with me is like the only freedom some of these guys have".
Comments