Yes. I sometimes play nursing homes. And may we all drop dead before we end up in a place like that! Thump --- "Alan R. Barnard" <mathstar@salemnet.com> wrote: > Re: The Square. Aw, Joe. The customer only pretended > to be happy. Truth is, you broke her heart: She was > hoping to make a desk out of it. Who shot it, > anyway? Must have been a tech. > > Didn't know if it would be too "OT" (new term I > learned here) and bore people. But since you > described your day, here was my very memorable > yesterday: > > 8 hours in a nursing home doing major work on a > Chickering older than most of their residents > (1910). Piano can't be moved to any place more > private than right where it is. So ... > > Gentleman in wheelchair kept rolling past very, > veeeery slowly, saying "Come on, come on. Can't get > goin'. Come on, come on. Can't get goin'." Over and > over again. > > Woman kept alternating between crying and SCREAMING > the filthiest obscenities you can imagine, telling > everyone in sight where to go and what to do when > they get there (things not anatomically possible, > BTW). Over and over again. > > Lady in wheelchair kept rolling past asking everyone > for spare change. Over and over again. > > Another lady in wheelchair rolled up as I was > bringing some new bass strings up to the > neighborhood of pitch (Mister Rogers?). She said: > "Play Deep Purple." "The piano isn't ready to play," > says I, "I'm here to fix it and tune it." "Okay," > she says, "then play Stardust." "I can't." says I. > "Okay," she said, "I'll sing it for you." And she > did. Over and over again. > > Man in the room right next to the piano was watching > marathon westerns. Horses galloping, guns blazing. > Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, Gunsmoke, some baaad > movies, and The Lone Ranger. He's pretty deaf, the > TV turned up to Stun. > > (How come Tonto can't say: "He went to town" but CAN > say: "Him go town, back Wednesday." LOL) > > Man in the gunfight room had a small, cheap guitar. > He got it out every half hour and played for about > 10 minutes (TV still going). Sounded terrible. > Finally offered to tune it for him with my > "professional tuner." Being a pianer tuna and a > concert guitarist, I figured I could really improve > his instrument. It was waaaaaaaaay off. Tuned it, he > said thanks and went back to his room. Started > playing and it sounded exactly as before. Peeked in > at him and saw that he was just making up random > "chords." Over and over again. > > Their handyman had done a decent job refinishing the > piano. I sold them a stencil and lent him a > burnisher. He put it on, very nicely. I told him to > put a coat of the urethane he'd used over the > stencil. He did. Right there, right then. The fumes > finally drove me out. > > These are just a few of the highlights. The whole > experience was sad, funny, and aggravating at the > same time. Such mixed emotions are very tiring. > > I get to go back this week to adjust my new dampers, > repair the soft pedal assembly (unique design, very > Chickering), raise the pitch about 150 cents on some > pretty rusty strings and tune the thing (A435, thank > you very much) > > Pray for me. Over and over again. > > Alan R.Barnard > Salem, MO > > P.S. To demonstrate the "ruralness" of this area: > This nursing home is an hour from my town. Most of > that time you are driving through oak and pine > forests. You pass through two towns with pop. < 200 > and see very few mailboxes, let alone houses. There > is exactly one place to buy gas and get a soda > 'twixt here and there. It closes when it gets dark. > My tunemobile has 214,000 miles on 'er. Keep > praying, brothers and sisters, I sure do when I'm on > that road at 9 PM! > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC