LINDA'S STORY

I answered an ad in a Cape Town newspaper for a masseuse/receptionist. The advertisement stated I would be a staff member, would receive a salary of R8100 per month and receive an incentive bonus. During the interview I was told that the job involved answering the telephone and that I would be trained to do simple Swedish massages. She said to me this was a straight forward massage salon and there was “no funny business”. I was going to get a cut of each massage I did – which (I understood) was over and above the offered salary. On my second day, I was trained to do a back massage. When I started on the Monday, I went straight into doing back massages. I was confused when a client asked me for “extras” and did not understand what he meant. After a few days the owners asked me to “get more involved” and handed me a slip of paper which had the services I could offer. These were itemized and varied from “full house” R450 to Blow jobs R270 to “body to body” to “touching” at lower rates down to some R120. I then only realized what was really happening in this “beauty salon”. I needed the salary and decided to stay on, without doing any of the extras. Girls told me how they often did not use condoms, how married men are telling their wives they are in business meetings whilst having sex and how girls used drugs with their clients. The pestering from both the clients and management became so bad, that I could no longer take it. I decided to leave, which I could do because I had the support of my family. This was a very bad experience for me. The advertisement was a “con”. I was told they always had the best girls and I realize why, they got the young girls who never intended to be prostitutes but wanted a decent job. The pressure and the money got to them. They could earn up to R10 000 a week I realized too the salary was a “con” as well. I would never have received the R8100. No one ever did.