I worked as a male technician at a foot massage shop in Hangzhou.
…
I failed the first round of the postgraduate entrance exam and was extremely upset, hiding at home for a few months. My friend urged me to go to Hangzhou to find a job, earn some money, and then take the civil service exam back home.
At that time, I thought he was right; I should find a job and earn some money. It’s not good to just sit around.
I thought, in such a great city like Hangzhou, finding a job with a monthly salary of over 8000 shouldn't be too hard.
So, one month, two months went by, living a life of eating, drinking, and having fun, with no income.
One evening, under the flickering neon lights of Hangzhou, shadows danced around. My friend was dragging my drunken self home.
A recent college graduate without money, I rented a cheap room in a small alley almost in the suburbs. The alley was shielded by a mottled wall, with colorful advertisements posted all around.
My friend smirked and patted my face, saying, 'Look at you, so limp. They even sell Viagra here, want a few pills?'
After drinking, my head was a bit dizzy. I didn't pay attention to him, just hung around his neck and let him lead me forward.
He patted my face again, this time quite hard, it hurt a lot, and I couldn't help but curse out loud.
Look, there's a foot massage shop hiring male technicians, with a base salary of 8000. Why don't you, a pretty boy, give it a try?
I said, 'If the monthly salary is 8000, I would do anything for it.'
My friend ignored me, thinking I was talking nonsense after drinking and staggered me toward the rental apartment.
The next morning, I woke up and it was already past eleven. The events of last night vaguely circled in my mind.
I texted a friend asking where they saw the job posting last night, with a monthly salary of over 8000?
He replied, 'You really take it seriously, working as a technician at a foot massage shop? Is that the ad posted in the alley where we live? Are you going?'
I didn’t reply to him, got ready, and went out.
This time, I didn’t wear those white, worn-out flip-flops.
When I came to the alley, I stared at the advertisement for hiring male foot massage technicians, and my trembling fingers dialed the phone.
On the other end of the phone was a woman, whose voice sounded quite mature. She asked me if I had any massage experience.
I said no.
She paused for a moment and told me to go to the shop this afternoon to meet someone.
At noon, I told my friend about it. He was very surprised, thinking I was just talking nonsense after drinking, and didn’t expect I really had an intention.
I said, 'Let's find a job first to earn some money. The benefits here are quite good; I'll go take a look this afternoon.'
It was around two in the afternoon, quite hot, the sun was shining. I arrived at the foot massage shop, which was a bit off the beaten path, and the shop was not as big as I had imagined.
The receptionist was a girl, and I felt a bit embarrassed to tell her I was here to apply for a male technician position, standing in the lobby feeling at a loss.
A middle-aged woman in black stockings approached me in high heels and led me to a private room.
She said, 'I am the manager here; you are here to apply for the male technician position, right?'
I nodded.
She said, 'On the phone, you said you have no massage experience, right? It takes at least half a month for us to train you before you can start working. There’s no salary during this half month, but we cover food and lodging. Is that okay?'
No salary for half a month? Damn, what’s the point? Even an apprentice at a barbershop gets paid. I thought to myself.
The manager patted my leg, noticing I was a bit hesitant, and said, 'Once you start, we will offer you a base salary of 8000, plus a 20% commission on each order. If you work hard for a month, you can probably earn 30,000 to 40,000. What do you think?'
What? 30,000 to 40,000? I earned that much. At that moment, I was a bit impulsive and didn't read the contract carefully before signing.
She asked if I was free at the moment. The shop was quiet in the afternoon, and she called two technicians to come teach me. I said, 'Okay.'
I first went to the bathhouse to take a shower and changed into casual clothes.
The manager took me to the technician's dormitory. Initially, I thought my mentor would be two fair-skinned male technicians, but in the end...
66, 79, these are the new male technicians in our shop; teach him when you have time.
There were two young women with graceful figures, fair long legs, and exquisite makeup.
The woman called number 66 grabbed my hand and led me to her bed, with a provocative expression, shouting that since I wanted to be her apprentice, I had to perform a rite of apprenticeship first.
Sitting helplessly on the bed, I didn't know what to do. The manager patted me twice and said, 'Newcomer, don’t tease him anymore. Just take him to the private room and teach him.'
The two of them told me to go sit in room number something for a while; they would come back soon.
After a while, the two of them came to the private room. They changed into clothes, wearing tight skirts and high heels, one in black stockings, the other in flesh-colored stockings.
The following is the process of how they taught me, and I won’t say much more about it; it’s not interesting.
Maybe you will say I am hypocritical. I can't refute that; I can only tell everyone that I am not a hypocritical person.
After all, it’s me talking, so let’s temporarily believe that I am a sincere person.
After about fourteen or fifteen days, I learned nearly enough, but I was a bit scared when it was time to start working.
As for foot massages, to be honest, I seem to have an innate aversion to the feet of unfamiliar women. On the first day, I massaged quite a few feet—fat ones, thin ones, long ones, short ones—all made me feel uncomfortable.
I originally thought there would be many male customers, but surprisingly, all the customers I received on the first day were female.
Sigh...
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I have been on the job for two or three days, and I can't speak well, often receiving poor reviews from customers. The manager called me several times, asking me to massage her; she said she would help me practice chatting with customers. (And she didn’t pay me...)
After a month on the job, I was about to get my salary, thinking I could earn several tens of thousands, but the manager showed me the contract, which stated a base salary of only 4000.
Damn, I was scammed.
But it's okay, the contract states that I can get a 30% commission, which means I can take home more than 10,000, which isn't bad.
After a while, I resigned and prepared for the second round of the postgraduate entrance exam.
Update on March 11
I started preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, aiming for a certain 211 university in the north.
