<HTML>Michelle- Okay, I'm a woman in the trade, and a very small one, at that.  I had a similar situation a couple of years ago...similar, with regard to the customer being crazy/weird.  Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference. He had called and left a message and wanted to set up an appointment for me to "fix" his piano, (he had hauled it from his sister's house on the back of an open bed pickup truck in the pouring rain, and now it wouldn't play).  I returned his call, set up the appointment and got all the necessary information (he was a new customer).  We hung up and about 3 minutes later, he called back and said that I sounded so nice on the phone, and intelligent, blah, blah, blah, that he would like to ask me out on a date!  I told him that I was flattered that he would ask me out, sight unseen, but that I was already seeing someone (not really true) and that I didn't mix professional and personal relationships, but thank you for asking.  I really wanted to cancel that appointment, because he was so weird, and I was sure that he was disturbed.  So, I called another piano technician friend of mine, to get his opinion on the matter, described the conversation to him and he thought it was very strange, and was sure that the man was an ax murderer.  So, we agreed that at an appointed time, about ten minutes after my arrival on that day, he would call me on my cell phone and check up on me.  Fortunately, when I got there, the man's parents were there (who seemed normal), as well as the man (who was scarier in person).  My friend called me at the appointed time and I told him I was okay.  I gave him an estimate for the repairs (which was quite high, as a deterrent), left, and he never called again I do a couple of things, for safety reasons: 1. I always carry a cell phone, and have someone call me, if necessary, at a particular time.  You can also program numbers to call, for quick access. 2. I do not give out my address, except to institutional accounts. 3. If I am tuning at night, at a college, for example, I make sure one of my friends knows where I am. And, yes, I agree with the others, that you do have a right to refuse to do work for someone (and probably should in this case).  You don't even have to give him a reason.  I DON'T agree that any 70 year old man would be easy to knock down...in fact, I don't personally know of any 70 year old men that would be easy for a 4'11 3/4" woman like me to knock down.  But he would sure know that he had tangled with the wrong woman.   K-Mart also sells a small can of pepper spray for about $10, if using your tuning hammer for a weapon, as Wim suggested, doesn't appeal to you.   Sheila Hunter Salem College Winston-Salem, NC </HTML>