Ah yes, that dreaded look about the place that I've become so good at spotting. It's as if I can see the heat from the people from with in the house, or I can hear if there's a heartbeat coming from inside the house........... and when I can't spot either, and the dog is acting like, "what are you doing here?" I'm compelled to GET REVENGE!! Actually I did this once, in Cheyenne, there's a developement out of town about 12 miles west, and the appointment was made for a particular time slot. I drove all the way out there, in a 40 MPH gentle breeze and found no one home. I waited my standard 15 minutes and gave her an additional 5 minutes considering the distance from town. The dog greeted me briefly and then returned back to his dog house, out of the wind. He didn't like getting pelted with crushed granite any more than I did. After deciding that she totally spaced my call, and I spent all that time and money and gas getting there for a dry run, I commenced to spin a rather nasty doughnut in what she might have called her front yard, spraying her dog and house with rather large chunks of prairie grass turf and mountain crumbs, then proceeded through the barrow pit (ditch) and on to the road to head for home. I caught a brief view of the event in the mirrors of my 4X4 and saw very noticable divots in her yard. This has been the only time I've made any customer "pay" for a missed appointment. Frustrating as they are, I can't bring myself to that level of "arrogance" (the only term I can think of) to charge people for missed appointments, no matter how busy I am, no matter how far I've traveled. Fortunately, I don't do out of town calls much, and when I do, communication is fresh, and the ramifications are very thoroughly understood. I had more missed appointments working for a dealer, on a dealer's payroll, when scheduling was done by a bimbo, then I've ever had in my entire career. I usually found a nice place to take a nap and get paid for it. Being self-employed and having to deal with a missed appointment is different. I have found that the slightly higher than the cheapest price in town has saved me quite a bit of grief, including no-shows. I never heard from the lady outside of Cheyenne, and I didn't leave a doorknob hanger "sorry we missed you" that I leave now. It sure felt good to rip up her front yard and spray her house and dog I'll have you know. I was quite a bit younger then. I still have thoughts these days, but instead I go find a phone, and if there's still no answer, I go back and leave a door knob hanger on the house somewhere, and go do errands until the next call or go fishing. lar Larry Fisher RPT specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com http://www.pacifier.com/~larryf/homepage.html (revised 8/96) Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water
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