Jeff, It was 30 below in North Dakota and 10 below in Sioux Falls today. I got an email today asking me about the technician who was moving here from California. Now we know. He is on his way. It seems there is a shortage of technicians in the Watertown area. I think you said something about that area. It was probably about 20 below there. What we are really excited about is someone who can show us how a piano business is run. We really have a lot to learn here in the country. And use humor to boot! As I said this really used to be a good list. And I'm not the only one who has noticed the decline. There used to be days without a post, and people were happy with that. The priority was quality not quantity. I don't open most of the posts anymore because I know it is crap from people who usually don't have much worthwhile to say. Digest form is a waste for the amount of postings. Most productive people aren't posting on the internet constantly. It makes me wonder if the people posting constantly are married and have kids or have a life besides the internet. Maybe that's all they think about when they are tuning: what to say on CAUT next. That would be funny if they aren't married and don't have kids and CAUT is what fills the void. Their sole reason for life is to post on CAUT. (Another example of using humor on CAUT with an underlying message.) Tim Coates Really Pissed Technician (RPT) Charter Member of This List (CMTL) I'd list all the other crap I can think of, but I think those schools and certifiers want to distance themselves right now. (ILAOCTBITTSCWDTRN) Wanna Through Crap, I'll Throw It Right Back (WTCITIRB) On Feb 17, 2006, at 7:45 PM, Jeff Olson wrote: > If you don't like humor (or this brand of it), the solution is simple, > just as it is with any thread one doesn't find interesting -- which > is the case for some people with virtually any thread -- don't read > it. > > It's not as though a few whimsical posts preclude the more technical > stuff. Anyone is free at any time to post more technical discussions. > There are, however, days when nothing is posted, and it seems likely > that this would be the case now, if not for the "laws" thread. This > list isn't a "zero sum" space. Humor doesn't occupy space that > otherwise would belong to technical expositions. And it's easy to > identify what one considers to be an uninteresting thread and to skip > over it. > > There is also often real information about dealing with customers > lurking in humorous threads like these. For example, how does one > deal with customers who receive last-minute phone calls or who vanish > at the penultimate moment? Many of us face these issues on a daily > basis. Ron was not kidding when he mentioned calling customers on > cell phones while working in their house. I did that just last week > when my customer had disappeared on a large-acreage property. I > called him on my cell, and he drove in on his tractor from the fields > (I waited for ten minutes). And I've had to handle customers who get > involved in long phone conversations as I stand there twiddling my > thumbs, as I'm sure many here have. I've become much more forceful in > handling that than I once was, and it would be interesting to know > what others think of my customer strategies. > > I'm saying that behind our jests here exist real-life business > quandaries. I seriously think there ought to be a seminar on dealing > with customer relations in prickly circumstances, because our > livelihoods are, at least in part, dependent on how we handle these > situations. You can be the most skilled technician in the world, but > without a modicum of business skills, you're -- if you'll excuse my > Latin -- screwed. > > (The livelihoods of those of us who often deal with the general > public, that is. But perhaps people never do these things in South > Dakota, Tim, so I have nothing to worry about when I move there ;-)? > > Best, > > Jeff O. > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan Crane" > <alan.crane@wichita.edu> > To: "College and University Technicians" <caut@ptg.org> > Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 5:24 PM > Subject: Re: [CAUT] New Laws > > >> At 06:49 PM 2/17/06, you wrote: >>> Any one else notice the overwhelming posting of "me too's". One of >>> the differences between Pianotech and CAUT used to be the quality of >>> posts, not the quantity. Not so anymore >> >> Well said, Tim!!! >> Thank you! >> Its nice to know I'm not the only one. >> Actually, during this past week I have been giving serious thought to >> bailing out of the CAUT list for CAUT just isn't as useful as it used >> to be when one has to wade through all the extraneous stuff. >> Maybe I'm just too busy or something?!? :) >> Hope all is well up there in SD. >> See you this summer in Rochester if not in Boulder this April. >> >> Regards, >> >> Alan B. Crane, RPT >> School of Music >> Wichita State University >> alan.crane@wichita.edu >> _______________________________________________ >> caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >> > > _______________________________________________ > caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives >
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