Slow Times

[Joseph Alkana]

At 02:23 PM 5/22/97 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-05-22 02:55:54 EDT, you write:
>
><< Slow? Hardly.
>
>  Whoever posted their "slow complaint" I hope you're satisfied. This is what
>you get. Some guy who can't stop crowing...snip
>Chucklingly yours, Sam Grossner chicago.
>
Sam, Glenn, et al,

Wish I could crow. 'Fraid I'm just one of the chickens scratching around.
Seriously, I find that it doesn't take that much extra effort to generate
some kind of business. True enough, at this stage of my career I see an
awful lot of one-timers, spinets and all kinds of junk stuff to do. I'm very
thankful for this business, though, and I try to use all of these
experiences as a dress rehearsal for bigger and better pianos to tune and
work on. When I get a decent instrument to work on it sure is a nice change,
but I don't cultivate the customer any different than all the rest. Word
does get around.

As another suggestion, here's another thing to pursue if you have the same
scenario as me:
Ask other techs if you can do some shop work for them. I mentioned that I
had several actions to work on. Well, I couldn't get to all of them at once
and when a fellow tech asked me if there was anything she could help out on,
I jumped at the chance. Evidently her schedule forced her to be around her
shop and she needed something to fill up time and make some loot, so it
worked out for both of us. Beverly Kim (Hi, Bev don't get all  red in the
face!) did a magnificent job on some actions and allowed me time to
accomplish several other projects during a stressful time.

Hope this helps, John.

Joseph Alkana  RPT