No Regrets, But Still Mortified...

Earlier in my career, as a licensed medical massage practitioner, I made a mistake that left me mortified; and yet, after 15 years, when I think about it, it leaves me cringing with the emotions of fear and of disbelief. It all started when my business was less than 5 years old, and everything was going according to plan. I was on a high with achieving all of my goals and everything was working out in my favor. One would have thought that I was kissed by a lucky lady bug or touched by a lucky leprechaun, but I wasn’t. Anyhow, one day, a client invited me to be a part of a business expo (some call them business conventions), that allowed businesses to showcase their products and services, to a community of other like-minded business people. I immediately accepted the invitation, as I attributed most of my success on having a very aggressive marketing and advertising business plan for my company:

Upon arriving, on an early Saturday morning, I was checked off the list by the concierge’s desk and escorted to my work area. As I began setting-up my massage chair and display table, pinning posters that listed all of the health benefits of medical massage and setting out hand-held flyers that discussed specific health complaints, medical massage scientifically corrects and/or alleviates, I noticed a woman, well over 6 feet tall in heels, staring at me. Let’s just say, I am well-under under 6 feet tall.

So, after putting everything together, a crowd began to form. I encouraged them, to sign-up for a time in my chair to try out my technique. As time passed, the crowd got longer, and people were booking sessions, for the next 4 weeks out, to my office. What could I say? I was on – a – roll with success; and ridin’ high, on my [own] supply… of self-achievement! (#feelinmyself)

And, after many hours, as the expo was coming to a close, I noticed that the tall woman was still standing there, watching as I was schmoozing the crowd with my wit, charm, and knowledge of the human body, the science behind medical massage and the common medical ailments and diagnoses that were covered by health insurance at that time. I just kept wondering why she would not come to my table; seeing how everyone else did. In fact, many of whom, who visited my table, went to her, sharing their experiences.

5 pm rolls around, and still, she never approached me. I assumed that perhaps she had never had a pregnancy massage before, and could be curious about scheduling one in the future, because, she was really big. She looked as if she were at least 8 months pregnant with twins. So, I packed up my things and loaded them into my SUV, and prepared a package for her, hoping that she would want to schedule a massage session at my office, for either before or after, her delivery date.

Walking up to her, I held out my hand, to shake hers, and introduced myself, beginning the small talk, by saying, “Hi, my name is Nnedi, how has your day been? I noticed that you have been standing here all day, how far along are you?” She replied, while rubbing her belly, “I’m not pregnant.” Another woman equal in height [ to hers], standing next to her, who had a session with me, earlier in the day, said to me while nodding her head (from left to right), “no, she’s not pregnant.”

[I wanted to ask the tall woman, what her medical condition was; but I believe the other woman who was nodding “no,” was subliminally telling me to just not ask. (#noregrets)]