A masturbating client? Part of the business, Canadian policeman advises horrified masseuse
A Canadian police officer told a massage therapist that harassment at work was just “part of the business” when she tried to report an incident of sexual abuse.
Claudia Cavaliere went to Montreal police after client requested a full-body massage and then proceeded to masturbate in front of her.
Cavaliere, who had recently graduated from a massage therapist programme, quickly left the room and staff asked the man to leave. “I couldn’t speak. I was hyperventilating. I was crying. I was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, panicking,” Cavaliere told CBC News.
Prepare yourself. I know a friend of mine who owns a massage place and would say it happens all the time
But her troubles continued when she attempted to file a police report. Uncomfortable with the process, she recorded a portion of her interview with police on her phone.
The officer on duty made repeated attempts to dissuade her from making a formal statement to police, emphasising the unlikelihood that an investigation would be launched, the lengthy process of legal proceedings and the minor fine the man would receive.
“It’s scary. He could be doing this to so many other women out there,” Cavaliere told the officer.
The officer replied: “If you want to be a massage therapist, prepare yourself. I know a friend of mine who owns a massage place and would say it happens all the time.”