The Slimming Package

Few years ago, my wife Anjali worked with a Health Care organization, which was mainly into beauty and slimming. The company was also into the business of manufacturing, marketing and export of products/services that constitute skin care, body care, hair care, dental care and many more. It had its wings spread across India. In Bangalore the company had 6 to 8 divisions and Anjali worked as a center head in one of them. She was not directly involved in sales and marketing, but had to manage the smooth functioning of the center. The company had many innovative slimming products and packages, some claimed to reduce 20 kg of weight in just three months, with their unique and effective herbal body massage. 

The ladies at the reception were very good-looking and were utterly smart. Clients were really pleased with their smooth and confident talking. One of the girls loved to communicate  more with her eyes and most of the male clients couldn’t stand her piercing glance for long. She talked with a typical Delhi accent and could easily convince the clients for taking one product or the other. Sometimes a few of the clients were not very satisfied with the service. Instead of 20 kg, they could hardly reduce 2 kg of their weight, after paying a hefty amount and after completing the course. On a few occasions, some clients even shouted at the employees, asking them to return their money. But the pretty ladies easily handled such situations. Some clients were so annoyed that they even made police complaints, but the terms and conditions to reduce weights were very tricky. 

One day a decent looking middle aged man entered the front door. He looked to be in his early fifties and was slightly overweight. The enchanting ladies at the reception greeted him and immediately his face lit up with a bright smile, and his heart filled with happiness. The man was quite soft-spoken and the ladies started to explain him about the various slimming packages. He seemed to be more interested in body massage. The girls were able to convince him for an alluring package. It was a three month’s package which included weekly two times full body massage, along with some exercises. The man looked very happy and he didn’t mind one of the ladies swapping his credit card for a transaction of Rs 50,000. The smart girls could read his mind and they were pretty sure that the man actually wasn't much bothered about reducing his weight, but he wanted to explore some of his hidden desires.

One of the girls escorted him to a room. It was a small room and the man was mesmerized with the fragrance inside. It was quite an ecstatic moment for him. He was expecting one of the enticing ladies from the reception would come and massage him. Various seductive thoughts started to flow through his head and his wait was getting impatient. Suddenly a good-looking guy entered the room. He picked a big towel that lay nearby and passed it on to him. He asked the man to get undressed and cover himself with the towel. The man was in a terrible state of shock. Totally clueless, he did exactly what the guy had asked him to do. The guy started his therapy and the man tried to relax with his heavy heart. 

‘Are you the one who’s going to massage my body for the next three months?’ the man gently asked.

The guy replied, ‘there are a few more therapists and I might not massage you every time’

 ‘Are there lady therapists as well?’ the man asked.

‘Yes, there are, but I’m afraid cross-gender massage is not done here’

The man was very disappointed and felt being cheated. Later after his therapy, he went to have a talk with the beautiful ladies at the reception. The girls already felt the sadness and dissatisfaction on his face. They were a little worried and felt the man might no longer interested in the slimming package he had already paid for. They tried to play it safe and didn’t give him enough opportunity to talk. 

‘Actually, I don’t think the package would be much of a help to me,’ the man said with utter shyness. 

‘No sir, it’s a very good one and it will definitely help you in reducing your weight’ ‘Hum log to aapke beti jaisi hai, aapse kyun jhooth bolenge?’ ‘We girls are just like you daughters and why we should lie to you?’

The poor man went speechless and the embarrassment showed on his face. After a while he simply walked away from there. He continued with his therapy and kept visiting the center. But every time he visited, he looked awkward and absolutely unsatisfied.