take this job and shove it (was let's cut..)

[Mary Smith]

List,

There is some good to come of exchanging "war stories" with colleagues. I 
think Richard West's point is well-taken that, with information and success 
stories from friends, a tech can go into an administrator and have the 
courage to ask for something important. I also agree with Rick Florence 
that one always has choices, and sometimes the best choice is to leave a 
difficult situation. That said, I want to tell you all that we at the 
University of Texas (there are four of us staff technicians - two full-time 
and two half-time, with benefits) have an enviable situation, in my 
opinion. Not that we have no financial woes! BUT, we do have faculty 
support, and we do some creative funding. We host a state-wide 
"competition" for high-school musicians once a year at UT, and many of our 
pianos are used for this event. We are paid by the outside user for all the 
prep work we do on these instruments, and that money goes directly into our 
piano tech budget, and we use every bit of it, believe me. Monies come in 
through the year from various other tunings for outside users of university 
facilities, and it does give us a boost to our rebuilding budget. My 
"boss," Charles Ball, has done an excellent job of setting up various 
sources of funding so that we can accomplish what we need to. And all of us 
on the "team" work hard at maintaining good relationships with faculty 
members, who will turn around and support us should the need arise. How 
lucky can you get?

Mary





>I'd be interested in hearing more "creative funding" sucess stories.
>
>Richard West, University of Nebraska
>