<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.100" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any sage advice for the women technicians?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Skirts and working under (between the 3 = legs of) a grand piano don't mix for modesty's sake.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Those floppy bow-ties of the corporate = mid-80s are (thankfully) out.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dressing "like a man" still doesn't cut = it in the more conservative circles (although that is changing), yet is still = generally preferable to a man dressing "like a woman."</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What's a woman to do?  She has to = look professional and feminine, yet not afraid of the tools in her toolbox or = what she might encounter upon opening up a piano.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>+ + +</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>About 13 years ago, I did a little = impromptu "research" on this very subject.  I called a number of the clothing = catalogue companies and asked whoever answered the phone to imagine that = they had made an appointment with a woman piano technician to come and work = on their pianos.  What did they envision her as wearing when she came to the = door?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The responses varied = tremendously.  Some thought it was a crank call and hung up immediately.  Some ran and = got their supervisors, who in turn relished the challenge.  Some gave = it the ol' college try ... and wondered what inspired such a scenerio in the = first place.  The suggested clothing articles ranged from the jeans-&-t-shirt routines to simple shifts to chinos-&-blouse and = all the way to full corporate drag (skirted business suit) complete with = the floppy bow-tie.  Unfortunately my sample size was not large enough to do a = meaningful statistical analysis, to determine the most common assumption = of how a woman technician would dress.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We're back at Square One on this.  = What do you all think?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for your responses.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Z! Reinhardt  RPT<BR>Ann = Arbor  MI<BR><A href="mailto:diskladame@provide.net">diskladame@provide.net</A></FONT><= /DIV> <DIV> </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=Billbrpt@AOL.COM = href="mailto:Billbrpt@AOL.COM">Billbrpt@AOL.COM</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 24, 2001 = 8:39 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Appearance</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 = face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 = FAMILY="SANSSERIF">>><<<BR><BR>Clean, neat clothing which indicates that you are a professional and serious = <BR>about your work may, in fact, allow you to get a better fee without too much = <BR>complaint from your customers but in my opinion, dressing too = formally and <BR>uncomfortably won't. <BR><BR>Bill Bremmer RPT <BR>Madison, Wisconsin</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>