food & beverages

[Ron Torrella]

On Wed, 21 Jun 1995, Joel A. Jones wrote:

> 'voice major' and needed water for her throat.  During the long argument
> following we were joined by the facilities coordinator and the assistant to
> the director. Results:  the water was removed fromt the piano, but allowed
> to stay in the room on the coat rack.  I was accused of intrusion of
> privacy by the student, infringement of rights, etc. The picture was not
> pretty and I was *ticked off*.

Incompetent administrators, they.  Sounds like they lack a spine.

>         Students and faculty do give the nodding agreement that food and
> drink should not be allowed on our expensive pianos.   However, when  the
> cookie crumbles it's my job to clean it up, leaving everyone to cluck about
> what a shame it is to have this happen... blah, blah,blah.  I have only to
> walk down the hall past the classrooms to observe a full professor with his
> 'big slurpy' perched prominently on the concert grand.

Although it doesn't sound like your administration will agree to it,
*our* administrator will send a memo to the faculty reminding them that
they are supposed to set and example for the students.  Putting drinks on
pianos is a no-no.  Of course, they conveniently look the other direction
when the "tall drink" happens to be for a lovely bouquet of flowers...

>          You've all been there.  I'd certainly appreciate your tips on how
> to eliminate this problem from my work life.

How about billing the students for the repairs which result from careless or
wanton damage.  Here, we have a "surcharge" the procedes of which are divided
among purchases of equipment and repairs of instruments/ equipment.
Eventually, there will be an across-the-board surcharge (not unlike the
computer surcharge) whose procedes will be more accessible to the piano
shop.

It's a shame your administrators (apparently) don't back you up.

Ron Torrella
School of Music         ** STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY **
University of Illinois