Last Thursday, my sister came back from Matriks Changlun, Kedah for a sleepover at my house since we plan to go back to KK together for the Chinese New Year break. But i just noticed she started
jalan terhenjut-henjut due to the hips pain she got while waiting for the bus at her KMK college. As our plans to visit Spa & Beauty Centre, has been postphoned a million of times, we then decided to go massage on Friday afternoon after lunch. While surveying for a nice place to complete our mission, an advertisement on massage caught my attention:
Massage: RM19 Only!!
My sister and i then, walked slowly to the beauty centre and studied the advertisement. It was cheap, RM19 for 1hour and it was full body massage. Where else can we get that kind of promotion? It was like
rezeki datang bergolek. Plus, my sister had always complained that everytime she wanted to go for one, i used to say it was too expensive or sometimes, when we agreed upon one place, the female workers are gone to
kampung or only male staff was available. LOL.
We then nodded in agreement that this place must be the right one.
I pushed the glass door and was approached by a middle-aged chinese woman. She asked us to sit and went off to the other side of the counter, and brought us two cups of
pandan tea.I also saw a man came out from one of the rooms inside, wearing his shoes and was now paying the cashier some cash. The cashier also just come out from the same room. She is a beautiful chinese young lady who wears heavy makeup (but still look pretty), with colored short hair. I wonder if she is the one who massage the man.
While waiting, i could smell the aromatherapy aroma of lavender,
pandan and ginseng leaves. There are some chinese red
angpau envelopes and red fake fire crackers decorated on some orange trees. They were all hanging like
tanglung. Suddenly, the place gives me a creepy uneasy feeling. The middle-aged woman asked me,
"
You orang nak buat apa? Kitorang ada satu package promotion... RM158 per person. Dapat 1 free massage bila datang utk second time. Ini murah punya promotion. Lu boleh dapat fullbody massage+ facial + tungku for 2hours. Selalu harga massage shj RM79 per hour. Now, u boleh dapat 3... utk rm158. U dtg hari ni, dapat percuma 1 massage."For a moment, there was a long silence. I was thinking of the purpose of the RM19 advertisement. I asked her, "
RM158 pun mahal juga. Adik saya tak ada duit. Lagipun, yg advertisment kat luar RM19 massage tu apa?"The woman looked at us directly in the eyes, "RM158
sudah murah la adik. RM19 massage tu u boleh datang sebanyak 10kali. Every massage harga RM19 utk satu kali. Tapi u cuba la package RM158 ni. Untung punya maaa...mana mau dpt tmpat lain"
Well, if like that, it means RM19 is just a trick to attract customers.
"
Kalau saya ambik RM158, saya share dgn adik saya boleh tak? Saya tak mau dtg byk kali. Sy datang sekali, adik saya replace utk free massage yg sy dpt, boleh?"The woman raised her eyebrow, "
Mana boleh. U bayar rm 158, dia bayar rm158.. nanti dua2 dapat free massage for second time. "I suddenly felt what she told was irrelevant. We came for the RM19 were inforced to take the package RM158 which we didnt want.
"Oh, kalau mcm tu saya tak mau la kak. Kitorang takda duit." I told her firmly.
The woman pointed out, "
Mana boleh tak da duit. RM158 ni murah. U boleh dapat 3 in 1 package. Ok, if u tak mau, ok..BOLEH, BOLEH. i bagi u kongsi. BOLEH, BOLEH." Suddenly, she changed her mind and seemed so excited about it. She was now flipping over her receipt list.
I suddenly felt pissed out. How dare she hav the guts to decide on our behalf to proceed with the massage treatment. Trying to not be rude, i looked at my sister. "
Dah, jom balik."My sister was stunned for a moment. She wanted to get up from her chair, but the middle-aged woman suddenly raised up her voice looking at me, "
Apa pasai u ajak dia balik??Lu dgr dulu apa i mau cakap..Dgr, dengar. Sini, explain pada diorang." She suddenly reassured the young cashier who has just said goodbye to the man to re-explain the package. I was about to tell the woman, that if i leave the place, is she going to send my sister back Home?
"Adik, u akan rugi if tak mau try package ni, " the young cashier began. I was losing interest and I told her, "
Kitorang xda duit. Dia lagi takda duit." I said and eyeing my sister who seemed 2be so quiet during the conversation. I just knw that if we agree for the package, RM158 +RM158 = RM316 would solely come from my pocket. My sister is still a matriculation student, even her allowance seems not enough to buy books, food etc and she still need
belas ihsan from me and our parents. I have the money actually, but i don't wanna lose it for services that i dont guarantee is good or not. Actually, i knw an even better spa place than this one, if we really2 need to go for the expensive service.
"Aiyo...u boleh kongsi la if u nak. If u xbawa duit gaji skarang, kita boleh terima credit card or kad ATM. Kita boleh check duit u cukup atau tak cukup la adikk.. Jgn mcm ni. Kita bukan paksa punya. tapi kita buat ini promotion mmg untung. Ramai lagi orang mau dtg jap lagi." She eyed my sister's face. "
Tgk muka u...banyak jerawat. U punya muka kena facial la adik."I was losing my patience but still keeping my voice very decent. And how dare this girl wanted to check the money available in my bank account.
"U kata tak mau paksa." I said angrily. "
Kitorang dah kata xmau, xmau la. Mmg xda duit! If mmg xdapat byr, u nk tolong bayar?Dia lagi takda duit."I was nw standing. I looked at my sister. She is now standing herself in horror. We didnt even touch the
pandan tea the woman had served.
"U boleh bagi phone number pada kita.if ada promotion kita bgtau". The young cashier suddenly opened a notepad, i reluctantly wrote the number on the notepad she gave just to end the conversation. She suddenly continued talking, "
U boleh beli voucher dlu bila mau. Customer2 lain beli itu voucher utk promotion. Voucher murah M10 dan RM20 sahaja.. Boleh ya, adik."I snapped angrily, "
Takda2. Saya tak mau.Voucher harga RM10 ke, RM20 ke.. saya tak peduli. saya xmau!"Both woman seems disappointed. The young cashier shook her head slowly, "
Aiyo.... RM10 aje xmau..."Well, to hell the women. I just noticed these ppl are trying to make us come back sooner or later. I dont think the way they treat the customers are quite right. I dont mind them being tricky about the price, but the way they raised up their voice when i refused to undergo the massage treatment really pissed me off. If they hadnt let us go, i would hav taught them some lesson they never regret. Just because they are offering a service and served us tea, it doesnt mean we shld succumb ourselves to their traps. And they forgot that I'm a linguistic person - i can detect the persuasive language ppl use to persuade customers; and they just fallen onto a wrong person.
While driving, we surveyed another massage centre runned by an OKU (blind) group which was only RM35 per person. We finally went there and quite satisfied with the service. And I swear to God, that i would never ever land my feet at the same RM19 massage place again!
