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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>David,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> thanks for your post! I love it.
Yes a lot of fun for me is telling the stories. Its fun to share this
stuff with people who understand and laugh with you or at you. I have had
some good laughs at the expense of other technicians and I want them to have a
few on me. One of the best parts of this business is the stories others
have... After I finished my 30 minute tuning this morning, I thought,
man this is just to damn dumb to be reality. After the fact even I thought
this deal is funny. After all is said and done what can you do, laugh or
stay mad forever. And on it goes! Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Shawn Brock, RPT </FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=davidskolnik@optonline.net
href="mailto:davidskolnik@optonline.net">David Skolnik</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:23
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: World Piano
competition</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Shawn & Bruce -<BR><BR>Don't misconstrue anything I say
here, as nothing is meant personally. It's all existential. Exchanging
war stories is fun, especially if it's not really war, and you survive.
Fortunately, I check for any recent posts before writing further and found Don
Rose's, which, for the most part, concisely says what would have taken me much
longer. <BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">Hi Bruce and Shaun,<BR><BR>As
long as technicians continue to accept vaguely impossible
working<BR>conditions nothing will change. Just Say "NO".
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>But I think it's a little more complicated.
Clearly, there is some element of satisfaction gained by surviving. As I
said, war stories can be fun, in which case, the more challenging, the more
suffering, the better the story. The question is, what do you learn from
the experience? If the punch line of the story is about how much abuse
you can endure without getting adequately remunerated, well OK, that's <I>that
</I>story. If you would do it again, that's another story. What
if, based upon your experience, you receive additional opportunities to
experience similar abuse in ever new settings? Well, at least you get to
travel.<BR><BR>Just say NO has never been very satisfying to me. Reality
is usually much grayer than that. If you hadn't accepted the job,
someone else likely would have, and then they would have all the
stories. The frustrating irony is that, as we turn out better trained
new technicians, and continue to maintain and upgrade our own skills, the
value of that quality diminishes. By embracing the challenge to do your
best in, ultimately, arbitrarily negative circumstances, you are reinforcing
the market dynamic in which the Competition is functioning. If there are
no complaints about the pianos, and if spending more (and making your
conditions easier) would not garner them any tangible gains, then they are
doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing, and they paid exactly what
they should have. So, next year, tell the story about what happened when
you asked them to shape up.<BR><BR>On the other hand, as long as you are doing
it, don't hold back if you have some good story material. As I said,
it's not at all personal.<BR><BR>Regards and good luck -<BR><BR>David
Skolnik<BR>Hastings on Hudson, NY<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>At 11:54 AM 7/10/2008,
you wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite"> <BR><FONT size=2>Oh Bruce,
Guess we just have to hang in with them. I think a lot of technicians
are correct when they tell us to "just say no"! Guess I'm to young and
stupid for that! I love concert work to. That don't help, and
with concert work a person is a glutton for punishment. Any how,
thanks for being in the club with me!<BR></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>Shawn
Brock, RPT<BR></FONT>
<DL>
<DD>----- Original Message ----- <BR>
<DD>From:</B> <A href="mailto:bppiano@aol.com">bppiano@aol.com</A> <BR>
<DD>To:</B> <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> <BR>
<DD>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 09, 2008 9:22 PM<BR>
<DD>Subject:</B> Re: World Piano competition <BR><BR>
<DD>Boy, do I hear you. I've tuned for the recently established
Amatuer Pianist International here in Colorado Springs for 5 years
now. We have a nice Hamburg Steinway D for the stage. However,
the practice rooms<BR>
<DD>are not scheduled for any attention this summer. I get about an
hour prior to the first event, and 15 minutes for lunch and other breaks
to touch up the piano. Usually, a russian pianist comes in for the
final masterclass and recital. Usually, a few requests for
regulation adjustments. Of course, everything must come within their
budgetary limits. I guess misery loves company. Nice to know
I'm not the only one doing this dance. <BR><BR>
<DD>Bruce Pennington<BR><BR>
<DD>-----Original Message-----<BR>
<DD>From: Shawn Brock <shawnbrock@fuse.net><BR>
<DD>To: Pianotech List <pianotech@ptg.org><BR>
<DD>Sent: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 6:04 pm<BR>
<DD>Subject: World Piano competition <BR><BR>
<DD><FONT size=2>Yes, I said the World Piano Competition. So for
anyone who might have been the technician at this event in years past, you
can laugh at me this year! I'm the sucker, OOPS, I mean technician
for this years competition. I can't say that no one warned me about
how it has played out in years past. This year is much the same,
except I got paid for my first week of work. That's a step in the
direction of improvement I would say. For those who are lucky enough
to have never come across this event I will give you a short run down of
what its like. Its a 2 week affair with the first week being devoted
to juniors under the age of 16. They are all vary good and are
thrilling to listen to. The next week is the more competitive
portion of this event, with everyone battling it out on 1 S&S d.
Man can they pound the hell out of a piano! I have been lucky enough
to come in each morning and find the piano in decent shape as far as the
tuning goes. My time allotment is getting shorter how ever.
When we started I could be in the hall at 7a.m, and they wanted me off the
stage by 830. Keep in mind that was for 2 pianos which were in use
for up to 10 hours. This week I only have 1 piano to worry
about. So with less worries they decided to cut my time back.
I was informed that I shouldn't inter the hall and start before
9a.m. "Oh, and could you be off the stage by 930?" What the
hell are these people thinking? Don't get me wrong, often I can
clean up/tune a piano in 30 or 40 minutes. I would not want said
piano used for a performance though. If a piano is on pitch, I like
to have about 1 hour or 75 minutes to do what I need to do, and that is
not for a 10 hour concert where the performers are possibly some of the
best new talent on the planet. So... Guess I'l l just go and
do what I can do. If the piano maintains its stability as it has I
should not have a problem. Guess I'm just complaining on principle
here... Not to mention the fact that they cheated me out of a
tuning... They don't want any of the practice room pianos
tuned. Man, these things are so badly out I don't see how anyone
could stand to play them. I had to fix a sticking key for one of the
players, did that one for free as well. Well, he needed the
note! It should be against the law for someone to bring these people
in and charge them all this money to inter a contest where everything is
so messed up! I hate the lack of accommodations for the
contestants. That bothers me more than anything. Once I told
someone that the reason I chose to pick up the guitar as a kid was because
every piano I was around was out of tune and was unplayable. Oh,
well, what do ya do?<BR></FONT>
<DD><BR>
<DD><FONT size=2>Shawn Brock, RPT<BR>
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</FONT>
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