No shows: Was Convincing the Client

[Ron Nossaman]

>Sometimes it amazes me how thoughtless some people can be, not to say that 
>I'm never
>unwittingly just as unthoughtful, but we should at least do what we can to be
>considerate of others.

A lot of folks who aren't self employed, or employed at all, don't seem to
make the connection that their appointment with you is your means of
survival. There seems to be this vague notion that someone somewhere is
paying you while you are out tuning pianos instead of hiding in the
bathroom like everyone else at your real place of employment.

I was stood up by my 1:00 the other day. I called her from the front porch
and she answered from the checkout line in Target. Profuse apologies, and
asked to reschedule. I said we could do it some time next week, but I'd
have to hit her with a trip charge for today. OK - fine. So there I am with
a hole in my day and two hours before my next scheduled appointment. I got
lucky. Since my 3:00 was only a couple of miles away (about 15 minutes in
town), I drove over and asked if she would like to get the piano done a
little early. She was home (unlikely, but it sometimes happens), and had no
problem with it. Pitch raise, service bond and tuning later, I went back to
my 1:00 no-show, and pulled into the driveway just seconds behind her. Must
have been a heck of a line at Target! I told her I was running a no fault
absolution program this afternoon, and could still do that tuning today if
she liked and save her the trip charge for the no-show. Did it. Repairs,
pitch raise, tune, and off to pick up that Young Chang action with the
growing action brackets about 20 miles north and a mere 45 minutes late. At
least I didn't have to waste two hours of the early afternoon.

It's nice when things work out this way and the screw-ups can be absorbed
with no major penalty. It just doesn't happen often enough. 


Ron N