Interview

Hui Yi Yang (Eva) is one of the many chinese immigrants that I know of. She is a mother of 3 and a massage therapist near a plaza at McCowan rd and Finch ave E. She is 35 years old and she is from Guangzhou which is a region in China called Guangdong or in english Canton.

*Note this picture is about 2 years ago*

This interview was done on November 25, 2007

*The reason why this interview post was delayed was because of wierd internet errors*

The reason I chose this person for my interview was that she in all my life, i've never asked her questions like these in the interview, also she has overcome lots of hardships from when she first came to Canada to this present day, I.E. Language barrier, etc.

Q1: Why did you choose to become the occupation that you doing right now?

A: Well for starters, I tried may jobs and some I liked but was to far and some that i really disliked, the reason I chose a Massage Theapist is that one of my co-worker from another job was interested in doing a facial occupation, and asked me if I wanted to join her in one of those workshops, so I went with her to this workshop and there was a massage booth that caught my eye and I was suddenly very interested in it. I took a couple of Massage courses and got my Massage certificate.

Q2: What were the kind of jobs that you liked?

A: Some of the jobs that I really liked was a Cashier for NoFrills because that was a job that I really enjoyed, not because of the discounts.. or because of the nice pay, it was so that I could develop my English skills. Another nice job was when I was working in a Supermarket and I got to learn how to make Vietnam rolls. Of course, there was more but for timesake i'll leave it there.

Q3:How long did it take for you to get your Massage Certificate?

A: Hm.. If I had to guess it would be a year. It wasn't too difficult to get it, but it took time because I wanted to for sure get the certificate otherwise I would be wasting my time and money retaking the course all over again like when you want your G1 you want to get it right the first time (Haha..)

Q4: What are some positive aspects of your job?

A: Some good things about my job is that once I learned the steps and all the pressure points and such, I can help a family member relax without them going to a Therapist. The hours are pretty decent, around 11 hours of work from 9:00 am to around 8:00 to 8:30 pm, I can reach home and sit down and eat dinner with my family.

Q5: What are some of the Negative aspects of your job?

A: Some negative things about my job is that you have to exert force constatly, and most of the times its always up to the Massagee to decide, like one time I had a person come in and while i was massaging he said "more power please" and I pushed as hard as I could and all he said was "More power please!", at this point I gave up and I let one of my co-worker to deal with, so this job is no walk in the park.

Q6:How would you handle a type of customer like that again?

A: Over the past few years, I learned some helpful hints that helps me deal with this kind of these kind of customers, but i'm not telling you because that's confidential.

Q7: Did you ever encounter a customer who had a bad attitude like the ones who makes a scene out of no reason?

A: Oh yes, there were quite a few during my work hours, there was this one guy who was very uncooperative, like when I asked him to lie down, he would sit up straight, or like when I asked him if I was exerting too much force and he said no and right after I started he said "Ow, your hurting me!". I really dislike these people, it almost feels like they are toying with you.. but this is my job and i've got to live with it.

Q8:How much money do you make?

A: I'll keep that a secret, who knows if you'll ask for more money in the morning if you knew what my paycheck was! (haha...)

Jason: Well thank you for your time, this has been a wonderful experience in getting to know you.