WHAP! OUCH! OK, back on topic now!

Byron...your "circle of turds" just dropped me out of my chair...

Jerry...that story is fair warning to all of us...don't tune for anybody who uses a shower. (actually, I got that wrong...ONLY tune for...oh nevermind...)

RPD

Jerry, How many beets in a circle of turds?

None... just the greens!

"circle of turds" also was a great source of laughter for me today. Thank you! BTW, the word "professional" simply means, "takes yer money", especially these days. i see no harm in daily laughter and that's got to be the most creative use of potty talk i've ever witnessed. i think its totally "professional".

As far as customer manners, i ask all my customers to refrain from belching, using the karaoke machine, or doing Tae-bo
in the same room as the piano...most people are ok with that.

Anson Everitt
PTG assoc.

Had another customer with a big house and piano room. Nice black Knabe. It was also the favorite run of their big golden retriever. Left the door open for me to tune and there was a big stinking pile just the other side of the bench on the shag rug. It wasn't the first time either. I just bailed out and pondered the vagaries of the human mind and priorities. Won't be back again. Animals in a home can be a mess, that's to be expected. It's also expected to clean up after them. The rug was dotted with stains and never ending stench. I smelled it on me 5 miles down the road.

Hmmm, perhaps I will refer to CM3s as COTs. (It's how I feel about them.)

It never bothers me if a customer stays in the room to watch. Very rarely does the customer spend the entire session watching, but it will happen on occasion.

As long as they are quiet and don't interrupt me, it's not a problem. In fact, I rather enjoy that someone takes such an interest in what I'm doing. Funny though, how sometimes that 'interested' person falls asleep and snores loud enough to slow me down.

What does the tech do then? "Hey you! Wake up! I can't hear the piano over your snoring!" - nope, never did that ...

... and Byron - I agree, it is uncomfortable when a dog sniffs at one's "tools".

A big for me is when the customer schedules the tuning at the same exact time as the new floor installation or the carpet cleaning. Oddly, this has not been happening lately probably
due to the economic woes.

Often times a customer will come out of the other room and ask, "finished yet?" when it has only been thirty minutes. Or they will hear me tuning the upper treble and assume that I am finished with the tuning because they don't know about the multiple pass tuning. They'll have checkbook in one hand and car keys in the other.

If the piano is still disassembled and my tools are laying around then I still need a few more minutes. Please don't push us out the door, especially if we let you know how long it will take at the at the beginning of the service call.

Personally, I don't find this off topic. I mean - it's showing what has happened in the past, and whether it's positive or not!

I agree. I like hearing all of the stories. They're educational as well as interesting.

"Circle of Turds" must be credited to Sam Casey. He actually experienced the phenomenon.