On the red board an interesting post about the situation at Premier...
To extend my initial post as to which spa and the whyโs, here is her response
I give some context letโs start at the beginning.
Some facts for the public:
-to be an MPA one must be hired firstly and given an employment letter from the spa youโre going to work at, have no criminal record and obtain a background check, clearance from a Doctor that you one doesnโt have any communicable diseases and finally, a license from the city. This all costs about $500 and about 9 hours of running around to get it done.
-when hired at premier, they do not tell you any of their โrulesโ until after this obtained.
-premier does not allow you to choose when you work, itโs mandatory you work nights and weekends even if you canโt (say you have kids, school, another job etc.), you must give 2 weeks notice for any time you need off (we can all agree this is fair and probably their own fair rule), if you miss a shift- youโre expected to pay $150/shift missed wether your child is sick, thereโs a pandemic, you have your period or youโre feeling ill. If youโre late for a shift they charge $20/30 mins youโre late and if you have to go home early, you pay between $70-150 depending on many hours you require off early, if a client books a 40 mins (which costs the same as a 30 mins) and a client leaves early (now this client hasnโt been rushed, he just needs to leave and heโs got what heโs come for) the receptionist are told to charge us anywhere between $20-50 dollars for a client leaving early. The client doesnโt get that money back. We completed a session and the client was happy and will most likely return to see us...why do we get money taken away? Are we to hold clients hostage?
-when hired we are told we are to execute our jobs within MPA standards...but youโll soon realize that clients come to premier because itโs a โsure thing.โ This โsure thingโ is now being instructed to be done โfor freeโ to keep you busy and fully booked. If you do not do it, you will not be busy unless you have been there a long time and have acquired clients that are MPA limits only...even then, most do your sessions will be boundary pushers who will be very upset at their session if you do not do what they want. But that is for another post...today we are here to give you a little context on what exactly we are expected to do at our jobs and how how an illness sweeping the world and infecting thousands is not a reason to close down a spa and a really awesome time to charge its employees $150/shift for missing work.
Five days ago, the WHO labeled this COVID19 virus as being a pandemic. It took our spa management a few hours to compile a notice they put our site and a message to us ladies in a group chat which is below:
โHi everyone:
No doubt youโve all been following the news about the current public health situation and Iโm sure like everyone youโre very worried. We wanted you to know weโre also very concerned and thinking about you. We know this is a very difficult and stressful time for everyone.
We wanted to share that we have placed a statement on our website to inform our clients that all attendants and managers have total discretion to cancel any session and refuse service to any client who you feel is not completely healthy at this time.
Because there are currently 59 known cases out of the 15 million people who live in Ontario, many people have chosen to continue working in their jobs, but should any of you wish to temporarily take time off just to be extra cautious please be rest assured you are totally welcome to do so and your decision will not be held against you in any way.
We are incredibly thankful for the amazing job that you all do! We are so lucky to have you as part of our team, and by supporting each other we will all get through this challenging time together.
Thank you so much,
Managementโ
All this message tells us, is this...please book time you require off two weeks in advance as usual and we wonโt hold it against you.
And now Iโm not 20000% sure on the timing here as I do check the schedule every day...but earlier that day or maybe the night before, the person who does our schedule, Hazel, went and posted the schedules of every employee under their name 2 weeks out, knowing that the situation was intensifying, I, if in her position and the owners position, would have held off on posting it a day or two to see how the situation developed giving my employees the chance to be smart and safe and book time off immediately following a message I knew was coming...but that was not the case. All of us working when we received hazels message went to see the schedule and all basically said โwtfโ to ourselves as the schedule was posted 2 weeks out and we all proceeded to book time off.
Since then, the spa had been fairly dead for most girls working- we saw a spike in clients who were under 40 who didnโt give a shit about health and safety and thought this virus couldnโt touch them. They pushed boundaries even more, wanted extras for free and insisted on kissing.
Fast forward to the last few days, almost all girls are scared going into work and quite honestly those who arenโt, arenโt following this very closely and seeing the world impact. Most girls are trying to get rid of their shifts because we have been told if we donโt want to work, we must get rid of our shifts or face a $150/shift fine. No one wants to take shifts. No one wants to be there. Clients arenโt coming in. Yesterday a girl whom SIMCITY has mentioned was fired.
A little background here because I believe transparency to be key- she is a fiesty girl, passionate and protective of her family. She has family members that are extremely young and older members whom are immunocompromised. She has not gone to work in over an week missing (3 shifts at this part in her story) and has been posting all her shifts up for girls to take if they want to work. No one is biting. Itโs now a pandemic- she messages Hazel and tells her she isnโt coming to her shift and that she wonโt be finding a replacement because this is ridiculous and clearly they donโt care about our health or the health of our clients and that we shouldnโt be open let alone forced to pay our shift fees while following government recommendations about social distancing and isolation. They retort with whatโs expected in a defensive tone and she is fired without being told sheโs fired directly. They removed her from the group chat and took all her shifts down.
In fairness to the spa (yes, I would like to point this out and be fair), her responses to Hazel were short and abrupt, could have been viewed as insubordination even, but given the nature of our job and the fact that we know 2 weeks mandatory isolation is coming which means we wonโt be working and we wonโt know when we can go back to work or how long our money will last us, she was scared and disappointed that our employers really donโt care about us or our health. Just money. They expect us to kiss clients and be pressed together like a peanut butter and jam sandwich, breathing in each otherโs space and exchanging fluids while a fucking pandemic is going on.
Now today, Ford has declared a state of emergency and the spa is still open. There has been no address from the owners or management team that the spa will be closed until further notice and that girls are to go home. There has been nothing done. Nothing! Do with that what you will but in a crisis like that I will not be returning to this spa when itโs said and done and no, I have not been fired. I will be going to the ministry of health, the labour board and a lawyer when this is over. Given the nature of our jobs, we should have been closed and if not closed, workers should have been given the choice whether or not they wished to come to work and if not, no fees should have been charged for this. I know I wouldnโt have been going back to owe 600 in fines to a business that didnโt give a shit about me or my health. We get treated like shit on the regular and we put up with it because premier is busy- we donโt sit around like other spa girls waiting hours to see a client. We see on average between 5-9 clients/8 hour shift. We make tips. We are busy. We put up with a lot because the alternative to make half of what we make and sit around bored. But now our perspectives have changed a bit...a lot of us would rather make less and be bored but work for a company that doesnโt treat us like shit and cares about our health. I highly suggest an influx of clients when we reopen our spas, but go to places that cared about the ladies you so enjoy spending time with! Or follow the ladies that leave Premier after this because there will be at least a few. Any premier ladies that read this, and decide to leave and would like your clients to follow you, I will be creating an account here and will make a post on this thread when I have done so with an email- please respond or email me and tell me who you are, I will make a post about where you have gone instead of premier to give your clients a chance to follow you. I think that itโs the least we as a community could do to have fair working conditions, be treated like humans and to not feel like sex slaves to a couple of people who donโt give a shit about anything but money in a time of crisis.
Thank you
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