<HTML>In a message dated 8/24/01 6:55:20 PM Central Daylight Time, eliotlee1@home.com (Eliot Lee) writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">    I was just told by a senior tuner here (Jim Coleman Sr.) that if I change my appearance by wearing a shirt and tie, instead of wearing casual dress, jeans and polo shirt, that I could increase my annual salary by $30,000.  He said there was a Yamaha study 20 years ago about this.</BLOCKQUOTE> Not wanting to contradict Jim, perhaps the mentor from whom I learned some of the most important techniques I know, but the operative words here are the "20 years ago". There used to be these little fold up brochures that depicted the piano technician as a 30 or 40 something man in a suit and tie with a fedora calling at the front door of a suburban home.  Yeah, right and men used to wear coat, tie and hat and ladies dresses and a hat to baseball games too. Styles change and dress standards do too.  In your climate (which, in my opinion is about as close to being in Hell as you could come on Earth), I don't think anyone expects to see you in a coat and tie.  They my even think you were deliberately trying to express an image that the skill and substance can't match. A better idea is to select clothing which you dress in exclusively for work.   I simply have black trousers and a white, short sleeved shirt.  In Summer, the black trousers are black shorts.  If I think the occasion calls for it, I can add a tie and a blazer. Clean, neat clothing which indicates that you are a professional and serious about your work may, in fact, allow you to get a better fee without too much complaint from your customers but in my opinion, dressing too formally and uncomfortably won't. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin</HTML>