[CAUT] Position, Assistant, Frost SOM at U. of Miami

[Ron Nossaman]

> We've all heard "you know, she's not going to be a concert 
> pianist."  People really just want the piano tuned for the cheapest 
> price.  

A lot of the folks I tune for had already tried the cheapest 
guy, and the guy who wants to sell as many extras as possible 
with each trip. What most of them seem to want is a decent 
tuning at a fair price (even if it's a the top end of local 
pricing), with no unnecessary extras. Mutual trust and 
courtesy explanations take care of the things they need that 
hadn't occurred to them, or talk them out of something 
wasteful when there is a more efficient approach. The guys who 
dump hardest on the "hit and run" tuners are all in high 
population density, high income areas having plenty of folks 
with disposable income who are in need of pampering. I have 
some of these too, but that doesn't fly with most of my customers.



>Goes right along with the kind of pianos that are on the market 
> today.

The cheapest is too good for some of them.


> The reason these positions are open is 1. salaries are much too low, 2. 
> job descriptions more often than not reveal that CAUTs are expected to 
> work unusual hours, and that is a job requirement that is not friendly 
> to either family or moonlighting.  Unusual, unpredictable hours is 
> usually a real turn off unless the money is really good. 3. expected 
> skill levels are over exaggerated and scare off legitimate would be 
> applicants, just like the RPT exams do.  Even Ron Nossaman commented he 
> was not qualified for the New England Conservatory job as it was described.
> 
> Jeff

I'm not qualified for a lot of things (thankfully, in some 
cases). There are plenty of better tuners out there than I'll 
ever be, and more than a few people who's quality of work I 
couldn't meet on a bet. I'm non-pedigreed, dress poorly, and 
have no political or social skills. That position required 
either an expert, or a liar, with the pay being too low for 
the first, and too high for the second. I often wonder what 
the expert/liar ratio is among applicants to these jobs.

Ron N