DingDingDing... and the winner is... Nick Gravagne! That is a great tale! On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 5:47 PM, Nick Gravagne <gravagnegang at att.net> wrote: > Amazing no-show (kind of): > > > > Many years ago when I lived in Albuquerque a brand new customer and I > agreed that if she wasn't home she would leave the door unlocked and that I > could just go in and tune her grand piano. Since I tuned for her Church and > other friends she trusted me to take care of business in the event of her > absence. Well, I arrived and knocked at the door – no answer. Rand the > doorbell, more nothing. I tentatively tried the doorknob – not locked. It's > hard not to feel creepy in these situations, but I gingerly entered the > house and found a mahogany grand piano. Still, I lamely called out something > like, "Hello, anybody home – I'm the piano tuner." The sound of silence was > deafening. > > > > So, I tuned the piano completely undisturbed; left my card and bill and > moved on with the day. > > > > That evening and a phone call from my customer. She wants to know what > happened; she was there for our appointment and I never showed up. I assured > her that I had, and that no one was home and that I tuned her mahogany piano > in the living room. Trouble is, her piano is ebony and it lives in the > studio, not the living room. A mystery now. We made another appointment for > the following day and I had dinner that night, sitting wide eyed, sure I had > entered into the Twilight Zone. > > > > Later that evening and the phone rings. A man identified himself, but all I > really heard was "I don't know who asked you to tune my piano, but it sounds > great and thanks. I will get a check in the mail tomorrow." Of course he > wanted to know more, who put me up to it and so on. I asked the man for his > address and I wrote it down, and when we hung up, I checked it against my > appointment book, and as they say in the South, "I like to fell down." I had > the correct house number but was on the wrong street! And the street names > were similar; they had a theme, such as Cedar, Spruce, and Cider. Well, > somewhere along the way, when I was looking for Cedar I ended up on Cider > two blocks away, and with no appointment walked into the house of a perfect > stranger, tuned a mahogany grand, and managed to get paid! > > > > What are the odds?!! Later that night I imagined all sorts of weird and > wild scenarios that might have happened, but thankfully did not. I'll leave > it to the rest of you to think about. I also wondered how I could possibly > justify such an unbelievable tale to my new customer with the ebony grand, > who I "stood up". It turns out she believed me, and sort of knew the other > party. We laughed. > > > > Who could forget such an odd story? Still, I learned to never walk into a > strange house unless I was absolutely and completely sure of the address; or > better yet, if I had never been there before to simply not go in, or even > try the doorknob for fear that on the other side of that door might stand, > cigarette in hand, Rod Serling. > > > > > > > > *Nick Gravagne, RPT* > > *Piano Technicians Guild* > > *Member Society Manufacturing Engineers* > > *Voice Mail 928-476-4143* > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On > Behalf Of *pianolady50 at peoplepc.com > *Sent:* Friday, August 01, 2008 1:02 PM > *To:* Pianotech List > *Subject:* Re: No- shows..... again > > > > Best No Show (for me) > > > > The job involved removing the 'drawer' in a Recordo grand to bring in to > the shop for rebuild. The customer lived an hour and a half away (one way) > in a gated community south of Tampa, FL. She had told me that she would > be meeting her husband at the airport, but that she would leave my name with > the guard at the gate, and the house key would be under the front mat. > > > > Seeing as I knew extra hands would be useful in the drawer removal, my dad > accompanied me on the trip. > > > > (Can you anticipate what happened?) > > > > After battling our way through Tampa and hauling down the east side of > Tampa Bay to Symphony Isles (no kidding), we arrived at the guard shack. > Pleasant older man emerged and I announced my name, my customer's name, and > my purpose for being there. He hadn't a clue. The customer had forgotten > to tell him. How frustrating to be sitting there, knowing that just several > streets away was that house key waiting for me. > > > > We drove the hour and a half back home and I immediately called the > customer getting her answering machine. I left a pleasant, chiding > message. She called back that evening to apologize and I could hear her > husband, in the background, kiddingly giving her grief. We made a new > appointment and she assured me that the guard would be told. I asked for > the phone number at the guard shack! I called him before I headed out to > her house, and every time in the future. > > > > Debbie L. > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080801/c08de4e0/attachment.html
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