Barber Shop Massage

Our legs became tired of walking, so we asked a 70 year old barber if we could sit and rest our legs a bit in his shop. He agreed, then, being the Turkish salesman that he was, he convinced Mark that he needed a beard trimming and massage. To seal the deal, he added a free massage for the wife. Well, that did sound nice, albeit strange. Smiling, Mark leaned back in the barber chair. I clicked pictures of the barber at work with his straight edge razor. The barber gave Mark a weak 2 minute arm and shoulder massage, then motioned for me to hop in the other barber chair. Feeling slightly awkward, I plopped down into the chair and watched as the barber shoved a magazine or newspaper into Mark’s hands. The barber covered his hands in some kind of lemon-scented pledge toner and slapped his hands together near his nose as he looked at me with eyes that twinkled in delight. “Don’t touch my face with that,” I pantomimed. Of course that’s exactly what he did. I closed my eyes and winced. He limply massaged my shoulders and hands. It was a pathetic massage; I wanted to get up and leave, but didn’t want to be offensive. He proceeded to unzip my fleece jacket, reach in to my bare shoulders, and massage my armpit. I thought to myself, “This really seems unnecessary.” He reached down my back and around to my stomach. Mark was engrossed in his magazine. Out loud, but not loud enough, I said something to the effect of, “Surely, this isn’t normal.” It was weird, but as a 70 year old barber with certainly no formal massage training, was this inappropriate? I reassured myself with the fact that Mark was sitting right next to me; it must be semi-normal. I told myself that as long as he didn’t touch anything inappropriate I would continue to just sit in the barber chair with my eyes closed. I felt relief when the barber leaned over and kissed my cheek like the massage had finally ended and I was being sent on my way. I opened my eyes and he put his arms out to continue the massage. “Ugh. I just want to be finished.” 15 minutes later, he finally quit. Looking back, I could have (should have) said I was uncomfortable and left. Who cares if he gets offended. But, I tried to justify his behavior and excuse it because he was old, he was inexperienced, he was lonely, he wouldn’t be inappropriate when my husband in the chair next to me. When we left the barber shop, I told Mark what happened and from his reaction instantly realized that this guy had been inappropriate. I felt embarrassed, but we laughed it off. When a 70 year old man takes advantage of you in his Turkish barber shop, there’s not much recourse.