<HEAD><TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1479" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Case number one: Weirdo's need love, too.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Case number two: "If that's what it's worth to you, sir, then fine. We= aim to please. Oh, I left a tool in your piano, I'll just retreive it= , here (gurnt, twist, torque, detune). There, okay, 'bye. Call me if the tu= ning slips: It can happen on these old uprights when they've been ignored o= r abused."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Alan Barnard</DIV> <DIV>Salem, MO<BR><BR><BR><BR><THETUNER@IVORIES52.COM><BR><BR><PIANOTECH@PT= G.ORG><BR><BR><BR></DIV><ZZZHTML><ZZZHEAD><ZZZMETA CONTENT="text/html; ch= arset=US-ASCII" HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"><ZZZMETA content="MSHTML 6.= 00.2900.2769" name="GENERATOR"></ZZZHEAD><ZZZBODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>OK, gang.= Here's my last question for this year. Is there a filth level at which poi= nt you refuse to work on the piano? Or, for that matter, even enter the hom= e?</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005></SPAN></= FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>In the la= st month I've had two customers where I had serious second thoughts about e= ven entering the home. Please indulge me as I share these two adventures.</= SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005></SPAN></= FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>The first= one was a middle-aged lady who, as she opened her front door, asked me if = I would be bothered by her collection of teddy bears. She followed that by = emphasizing that she meant a LOT of teddy bears. No-problem. But when I ent= ered through the door and found out why it wouldn't open all the way I paus= ed. Did I say A LOT OF TEDDY BEARS? She lived in a single that was literall= y hip high and wall-to-wall teddy bears and other stuffed animals. And what= turned out to be a fairly decent Kawai console was clear at the other end = of the room. I was not aware of any real furniture. I waded across the room= , took my hat and coat off and laid them in the lap of one of the larger TB= 's. She immediately grabbed them up telling me that putting a hat on a= bed is bad luck. There's a bed there? Anyway, the piano was ok, and while = I was tuning she ran off to do some dumpster-diving, (her words), to collec= t some bottles for recycling so she could pay me the balance after the chec= k that her mother had provided for half of it. Took me weeks to spend $4 in= pennies, but she was overjoyed at having her piano sound right again and s= aid it was worth every cent, and more. Something sort of rewarding in satis= fying a customer like that.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005></SPAN></= FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>The secon= d was an old curmudgeon tow-truck driver, again living in a single. He'd li= ved in this apartment with his two pianos, one bed and one TV and no other = furniture for ten years. The windows and shutters had never been opene= d and the place had never been cleaned. There was music covering everything= , most of it in tiny little shreds. And dust and detritus was measurably th= ick over the floor, the pianos and pretty much everything but the TV. Both = pianos were easily 100 years old and neither had seen service in close to 3= 0. I spent half a day on one of them and we agreed that the other would be = rescheduled. He then proceeded to stiff me for half my bill saying, essenti= ally, that's all it's worth to me, that's all I got, (as he peeled off= a C-note from the outside of a wad of bills), take it or le= ave it. Needless to say I won't be going back.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005></SPAN></= FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>So, have = any of you ever refused to enter a home because of filth? Or refused to wor= k on a piano because there was more dirt inside than you were willing to ta= ke care of? Or perhaps even just because you get a real bad vibe from the p= eople? And what do you tell them?</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005></SPAN></= FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005></SPAN></= FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>-- Geoff = Sykes</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=156542817-30122005>-- Assoc.= Los Angeles</SPAN></FONT></DIV></ZZZBODY></ZZZHTML></BODY><PRE> Salem, Missouri </PRE>