Slippers

[Mark Graham]

I also tune for quite a few Asian families (in Cleveland OH) and after
being greeted at the door with someone giving me size 6 slippers to wear,
I started carrying my own -- I'm size 13. I don't always put them on,
because some families are quite Americanized, but usually the customer
appreciates the gesture. Eventually I started taking them to every call
during the winter, leaving boots at the door, and I actually have gotten
referrals because of the habit.

A few years ago I was tuning for a woman I knew who had just moved to a
newly-built home. There was no lawn and it was quite muddy. I was careful
where I stepped going in, and it turned out the piano was across a wide
expanse of white carpet. With the customer watching, I again checked the
soles of my shoes, which were very clean, and then walked over to the
piano and started working. She seemed happy.

A telephone man came in about 20 minutes later. He started taking his
boots off. The woman said, oh don't bother. He said, I'd feel better if I
did, and proceeded to take them off. She said, well, it didn't bother
bigfoot over there, and jerked a thumb in my direction.

You can imagine how I felt. I kept tuning, and another 20 minutes or so
later I heard a snort from the other side of the piano. There was a huge
Old English sheepdog sleeping there. It turned out his name was Bigfoot.

Mark Graham