Walking around the French Quarter in New Orleans can leave the average tourist in a great deal of foot pain due to the fact that it is a walking city. In my travels, I came upon the Foot Reflexology Center and made up my mind to pay them a visit. There is another massage place about 2 blocks in, but it looks really seedy. The next morning, after breakfast, I stopped there, ready to have a foot massage. The warning was well placed, as they were annoyingly aggressive. Upon arriving at the massage parlor, my husband and I stated clearly that we wanted a foot massage.
We attempted to ask time and price questions as we were swept off our feet and into chairs, quickly pushed into recline position. As the foot masseurs took place at our feet, other people began to swarm around us, offering to massage our heads, our necks, our hands, anything.
With all the guidelines and tips I was able to learn about the whole billing process there along with saving some money on the bills. A little disappointed, the extra masseurs slunk away while the food masseurs gave us a five-minute foot sample. Then they moved in the kill.
In each case, the person got up and came very close to our faces, whispering in an effort to add services and jack up the price. Joining forces, we both insisted that we were there for two-foot massages, for twenty minutes, and further stated that we wanted 10 minutes per foot.
If we made the mistake of agreeing to 20 minutes per foot, the price would double. In the end, we both had excellent foot massages that kept our feet from reverting back to their painful states for the rest of our stay in New Orleans. He really needed it. I did notice, however, that when they were done with the massage, they took the same towel that was under my head and readied it for the next person. Overall, we were pretty satisfied with our service but annoyed at the pushy and unprofessional sales tactics.
