February Journal

[Ron Torrella]

On Fri, 17 Feb 1995, David Porritt wrote:

> "One point we stressed was that people have a right to buy any quality
> piano they choose, and other people have a right to build any quality
> piano they choose.  It's not my, your or anybody else's business...."
>
> Does that bother anyone else?  I'm politically conservative enough that I
> believe it at the theoretical level, but somehow it rankles me where the
> shoe leather meets the pavement.  Jack has expressed that idea in PTG
> meetings and I know he believes it firmly.
>
> I guess if honest people tell the customers that this piano was made from
> recycled Cracker Jack boxes and they still want to buy it that's one
> thing.  However, most of the time the only disclaimer about Doo Doo pianos
> is "...well for THIS kind of money it's not a Steinway but it's really
> a great beginner piano...."
>
> I just worked on a Piano Shaped Object - one year old - made in Russia.  I
> guess the dealer had the right to sell it, and the owner had the right to
> buy it but I don't think he's very happy that he excercised that right.

I think the key here is not so much *honest* people as *knowledgeable*
people.  I can't tell you how many times I've heard and read about folks
rushing out to buy one of those PSOs because so-and-so said it was a
great piano for beginners -- despite the fact that so-and-so doesn't even
*own* a piano!

I, too, am of the conservative bent where _caviat emptor_ rules.  If junk
is what they want, junk is what they get.  I simply choose not to service
what *I* perceive to be junk pianos. I (we) have the right to refuse to
service instruments we find to be troublesome -- that makes a level
playing field for buyer and technician.  I might add that I believe it's
my right to decide not to service the piano whose owner is overwrought
with their piano's maladies -- be it stubborn voicing problems, resolutely
unstable tunings, etc.  It's a luxury I can afford as long as I'm on the
public dole.  As long as I've met my obligation to perform, I feel that I
have the right to refuse service.  (Of course, I don't deal in contracts
with my customers.  They tend to call me rather than the other way
around.....with only a few exceptions.)  Once I decide to leave
university work, I'll have to reconsider that approach -- if I decide to
try to make of go of full-time private sector work.

Discussion Bait: Aren't we glad we don't have the government telling us
what we can and cannot charge our customers or how, when, where and with
whom we can do business?

Ron Torrella                  Self-explanatory - [A]bort [C]ancel [R]etry
University of Illinois              Inexplicable   -   + + +