Forever Gifts

Gift certificates for a massage are always welcome, and if the massage therapist who wrote them is lucky, the certificates are used and result in a new client; if the massage therapist is lucky in another way the certificate is never used.

           

Heck, in California, and possibly a few other states, gift certificates never expire. Once, I had an ancient gift certificate redeemed, after our prices had gone up. The certificate read for a 90-minute massage, and the client had paid $20 less than our current fee. After that I learned to put a dollar amount rather than only a timed service on the gift line.

          

The banks, ever enterprising, have figured out that while certificates don’t expire they can add fees. If the certificate or card is never used, it is eventually swallowed by those fees. They have the fine print to support it. I just can’t see doing that on a slip that says Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas.

Some gift certificates pop back up, mysteriously coffee-stained or crinkly, years later. Did I already mention that they never expire?

           

A couple I had not seen for eight years wandered in this past weekend. The children had bought mom a gift certificate for Mother’s Day – in 2005. She had gotten him one for Christmas in 2006.

          

 “Ooh, this expired yesterday,” I cooed. He grinned back, a little embarrassed, but not enough. “Of course this is still good,” I said. “Always.”

          

Glad for the opportunity, I suggested they were both overdue for massages. “I can’t believe you haven’t had a massage since 2006,” I said. “This is good for you.”

           

This couple was a little tight, a little tired and a lot stressed.

“What is the occasion?” I asked.

“We are going to Costa Rica for three weeks.”

  

 Oooh, speechless am I.