Call Backs

[Barb Richmond]

On Thu, 30 Nov 1995 PaulStep@aol.com wrote:

> Let's face it.  There will always be some customers that you cannot affort to
> keep.  This woman may be one of those.  There was interesting article in Home
> Office Computing during the past year about this very problem.  If you are on
> AOL you can look it up directly.  One of the piano faculty at a local
> university is one of these.  She figures she owns the soul of any technician
> who walks in her door.  On the times she has contacted me, I suggest she call
> her "regular" technician.

Good for you!

Fortunately, I had heard of a particular pianist's (not from the
university, where I work) reputation before she called me.  She was one
of those pushy, won't let you get a word in edgewise people.  After she
went on about how impressed she was with my work at IWU (she really liked
my concert work, but, of course, the piano was never really _perfect_)
she asked me to take her as a customer because no one in town would
service her piano (she had to get "experts" in from 50 miles away) and
that was inconvenient because she had

                         "daily emergencies".

I told her I was too busy every time she called.  Based on my personal
experience with her and the experiences other technicians related to me,
I decided that she is the type who could never be satisfied and I didn't
have the time or inclination to deal with her.  I learned some time ago,
that I don't *have* to tune for troublesome people and I don't *have* to
give them any recommendations about who else to call, either (even though
I am the only RPT in town).  I've never felt that being an RPT obliged me
to service all the pianos I get called about.  Let's draw some healthy
boundaries here!

Making the statement that it is obvious that one's work doesn't please
someone and advising them to try someone else in the future is much
better than having to put up with such nuisances.

One of my friends _did_ tease me a while ago about people having to
"apply" to become my customers.  Well, it certainly isn't true (I
*think*). :-)

Barbara Richmond
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, Illinois