Working while tuning

[Ron Nossaman]

> You can get asked the question no matter how long you've been in the 
> business. Whether you've done something klutzy with the case parts, or 
> you look like you're in your nineties, it can mean different things. 
> Sometimes I think they're asking if you can actually make a living 
> tuning pianos and they might *expect* that you also have a day job.
> 
> Confidence is important, as Dean said, so if you get asked about it 
> specifically, you can give an honest answer and make it sound like 
> you're a veteran.
> 
> Tom Cole

I think they ask because I'm obviously comfortable with the 
situation, can get the lid open on the first try (after the family 
history and botanical gardens are relocated), and have a tool case 
full of all sorts of mysterious implementia that I give the 
impression of recognizing when I open it. Carrying on a 
conversation, making the occasional dumb joke or literary reference, 
and strip muting at the same time (multitasking) gives the 
impression of experience too. Throw in the fact that most folks 
can't easily grasp the possibility that someone might actually do 
this for a living, as Guy indicated, and they have enough 
contradictory signals to fire their curiosity. Granted, it's on more 
of a "Is that supposed to smoke like that" sort of level than a real 
effort to grasp the working reality of the self employed, but at 
least it's an attempt to communicate with the service guy on a human 
level. You have to start somewhere.

The discussions on subjects they can't bring up with anyone else 
they know tend to start on the second or third visit, usually 
prompted by the dumb jokes and literary references. Hey, 
entertainment, like gold and the remains of Jimmy Hoffa, is where 
you find it.

Beats working for a living.

Ron N