I prefer to keep this entry in English, as I feel the urge to inform anyone who'd chance upon this article, or is looking for any reference on the matter:
Last Saturday, I together with two other companions went to Holland Village to eat brunch at Bakery Provence. It was then all three of us decided to get a foot reflex/massage, for 45 SGD. Along the rows of shops at Lor Liput, together with Provence and Paris Silk is 'Reflextions the Art of Reflexology'. We went there for our massage, and one hour and ten minutes later, left the place. We walked back home, as we usually do, as Holland Village is merely 10 minutes walk from our Block. Upon reaching home I noticed that my legs started itching, especially my left leg. I looked at it closely and to my horror saw big red rashes. Or so I thought, as they seem to have appeared out of nowhere. And they were an awful lot. They looked like rashes at first look, although they appeared to look like big red dots, bigger than your usual rash. I then looked at my right leg, and lo and behold. I had the same thing. Red big rashes that are raised on my skin. My left leg looked more severe though. Thought Im having chicken pox.
Now, I tried ignoring these spots to distract myself from scratching them . Really, I was more scared of how they will turn out to be--will they scar? I may have logs for legs, but one thing I can be all proud of is that I don't have 'coins' or 'mga piso' on them.
I went to see the doctor last Monday afternoon and upon seeing them (my legs), the doc said 'oh, those are insect bites'. 'Because some had bite marks (teeth). I asked which (insect), and upon hearing about what I did before I got those, she simply 'tsk tsked'. 'Go show this to them. Right away, not when it's healed ('cos Im giving you a good cream, she'll say later on), but in this state'. From her office, I began taking pictures of my poor legs through my iphone.
I just came back from Reflextions Holland Village. With the intentions of 'showing' them what happened after I got a good foot massage from them, I had to: a) explain the whole thing to a non-English speaking therapist, b) talk to a certain 'lady-manager' over the phone c) wait for someone to call back and talk to me again (because, as the girl insisted, she's not the one in charge, and that she cant (or the spa, rather) owe up to what had happened to me, because this is the first time someone has complained), and d) talk to the supposed-owner of the place, who said, in verbatim that 'they clean (their) place every week, with dettol', and that whatever happened to me is not their fault. I said this is the first time that this has happened to me as well. And it was just so coincidental that I got bitten by insects after less than an hour of foot reflexology. I was even pointing out that I suspect it's the leg stool--those stools you rest your legs on. He just muttered (like what the lady-manager said): we can't.
I said Im filing a complaint then. He said, 'Go ahead, file a complaint, then if further investigations prove to be false (mine: whatever that means), I will sue you'. I said 'I did not even wanted to resort to legal action, I was hoping you'd say that you will look into it'. He said 'Fine, we will look into it'. We were both shouting. I have no idea who shouted first, but things really got into me when he threatened to sue me.
So here is my account of what happened. I am not sure on whether or not this is defamatory, but let me set this straight. I may have been bitten by some insect on my way home (while my sister who was beside me the whole time had nothing on her legs). Or I may have been bitten by bugs at that massage place.
And that Im just not anymore complaining of insect bites. Now, I am complaining of bad customer service (no one in the shop knows English). I don't think threatening to sue a customer just because she's upset that she got insect bites, and MAY have gotten them from your leg stool is anywhere near proper.
Picture (yucky):
