<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">  <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue> <div class=Section1> Dave,<o:p></o:p>             Similar story many years ago--- I had a stretch of no shows and upon arriving on time to find yet another empty house I left a rather terse note explaining about my time as a professional and common courtesy---- yada yada yada .<o:p></o:p>             Turned out that the neighbor went into emergency labor and my client drove her to the hospital.<o:p></o:p>             Guess how I felt?<o:p></o:p>             Now I just call from the cell, leave a message and a note that I was here for our scheduled appt. and wait for the response.<o:p></o:p>             At the booking I ask for the best phone # in case I’m running late and lately I’m given both home and cell #’s .Having the cell can save the appt.<o:p></o:p>             “Oh, sorry! I’ll be right there”<o:p></o:p>             <o:p></o:p> Tom –--Bill Gate’s nephew---<G> Driscoll<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <div> <div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1> </div> From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of piannaman@aol.com Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:04 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: Another side of missed appointments<o:p></o:p> </div> <o:p> </o:p> <div> Hi all,<o:p></o:p> </div> <div>  <o:p></o:p> </div> <div> I have a client whose piano I tuned 3 times or so when it was brand new.  She is a nice lady, and we had good rappor.  She called to have her piano tuned again, but when I showed up at her house, she was not there.  Repeated phone calls brought no response.  I was irritated, and my feelings were somewhat hurt.  When you build up trust with a client, it hurts to have that trust broken.<o:p></o:p> </div> <div>  <o:p></o:p> </div> <div> Several days ago, 3 years after the broken appointment, I got a call from her daughter, who asked me to come and tune the piano.  I set up an appointment, and this time, when I got there, the daughter was home.  She said that there had been "issues," so they hadn't been able to get the piano tuned until now, 3 years later.  I asked if her mom was okay, and she said that her mother had almost died of pneumonia, having been in the hospital for 2 weeks with a fever of 106 degrees.<o:p></o:p> </div> <div>  <o:p></o:p> </div> <div> My lesson out of that event was this:  never judge people too harshly, particularly when you don't know the whole story.  There ARE things that take priority over getting a piano tuned.<o:p></o:p> </div> <div>  <o:p></o:p> </div> <div> Dave Stahl, RPT Dave Stahl Piano Service 650-224-3560 dstahlpiano@sbcglobal.net http://dstahlpiano.net/ <o:p></o:p> </div> <div> <div class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-top:7.5pt;text-align:center'> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center> </div> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at <a href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/1615326657x4311227241x4298082137/aol?redir=http://www.aol.com" target="_blank">AOL.com</a>.<o:p></o:p> </div> </div> </body> </html>