Chair Addiction

The first step is admitting, right? Well, here it goes.

It all started out innocently. I had a neck and shoulder ache from working at a desk (proof that my kind should stay in the arts and away from those office jobs). It was really bad. I don't have the kind of money to go see someone about it. But I did remember that the malls sometimes have kiosks with those massage people that will do ten minutes of massage for ten bucks or something like that. All I needed was my neck and shoulder done, so that should be enough.

I headed off to the mall right after work. While I'm searching the mall for a cheap massage, I discover that I can barely turn my head to the right anymore. I don't find the massage people, realizing it is Wednesday and they are probably there on weekends or something. Then I see a store that has the hand held massagers on display. I 'tested' them out on my shoulder and neck. As I'm doing this, I look over and see... the massage chairs! The employees seemed fine with people testing them out for long durations, as there were already people there. Luckily there was one free for me. While it didn't work my shoulder very well, I was a lot more relaxed and able to turn my head to the right once I left the store. Ended up having to buy Advil for the rest of the pain.

You would think it would end there.

About a week later, a friend and I get together. I'm suppose to plan a relaxing evening. So one of the things I do is drag him to the store and have him try the chair I really liked. (This is how bad it is, I actually called ahead to find out what time they closed). I tried a different one. Didn't like it as much, but it was still a massage chair. My friend actually took a brochure of the chair and said something about not being a bad price (t'cha right! like he's really gonna buy it!).

You would think it would end there.

That was Friday night. Tuesday night I convince myself that the errands I need to run are near the mall and I have a half hour to kill before meeting with a client, so I should just head on over... After all, where I am sore now is my middle back, exactly where those rollers hit. And hopefully it will be different employees there than on Friday.

I get introduced to THE chair. A nice employee actually assists me with it. He has me start out so the chair figures out where my shoulders and neck are (a good thing for someone short like me when everything is set for tall men). It also has headphones and calibrates the rollers to whatever music is playing (!!!). And the rollers go everywhere, including legs and even your posterior. He says people who try this chair always walk out with a bigger smile than what they walked in with.

Pic suggested that if I want to frequent there, I should bring the employees coffee as a bribe to let me use the chairs. And added that it is too bad that they don't have something cheap that I could go in to buy all the time, like gum.

What kind of support group is there for this kind of addiction? One where you all have to stand in a circle so there is no furniture temptation?

It is a national chain and there are at least four stores in Seattle and surrounding areas. Maybe if I just go to a different one every week...