uncomfy

[TuneHunter@aol.com]

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Michelle-

Okay, I'm a woman in the trade, and a very small one, at that.  I had a 
similar situation a couple of years ago...similar, with regard to the 
customer being crazy/weird.  Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference.

He had called and left a message and wanted to set up an appointment for me 
to "fix" his piano, (he had hauled it from his sister's house on the back of 
an open bed pickup truck in the pouring rain, and now it wouldn't play).  I 
returned his call, set up the appointment and got all the necessary 
information (he was a new customer).  We hung up and about 3 minutes later, 
he called back and said that I sounded so nice on the phone, and intelligent, 
blah, blah, blah, that he would like to ask me out on a date!  I told him 
that I was flattered that he would ask me out, sight unseen, but that I was 
already seeing someone (not really true) and that I didn't mix professional 
and personal relationships, but thank you for asking.  I really wanted to 
cancel that appointment, because he was so weird, and I was sure that he was 
disturbed.  So, I called another piano technician friend of mine, to get his 
opinion on the matter, described the conversation to him and he thought it 
was very strange, and was sure that the man was an ax murderer.  So, we 
agreed that at an appointed time, about ten minutes after my arrival on that 
day, he would call me on my cell phone and check up on me.  Fortunately, when 
I got there, the man's parents were there (who seemed normal), as well as the 
man (who was scarier in person).  My friend called me at the appointed time 
and I told him I was okay.  I gave him an estimate for the repairs (which was 
quite high, as a deterrent), left, and he never called again

I do a couple of things, for safety reasons:
1. I always carry a cell phone, and have someone call me, if necessary, at a 
particular time.  You can also program numbers to call, for quick access.
2. I do not give out my address, except to institutional accounts.
3. If I am tuning at night, at a college, for example, I make sure one of my 
friends knows where I am. 

And, yes, I agree with the others, that you do have a right to refuse to do 
work for someone (and probably should in this case).  You don't even have to 
give him a reason.  I DON'T agree that any 70 year old man would be easy to 
knock down...in fact, I don't personally know of any 70 year old men that 
would be easy for a 4'11 3/4" woman like me to knock down.  But he would sure 
know that he had tangled with the wrong woman.  

K-Mart also sells a small can of pepper spray for about $10, if using your 
tuning hammer for a weapon, as Wim suggested, doesn't appeal to you.  

Sheila Hunter
Salem College
Winston-Salem, NC



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