Hawkeye Harriet

[james allen bickerton]

james allen bickerton wrote:
> 
> Performed a tuning for a first-time customer the other day.  Commenced
> the pre-tuning inspection with the usual chit chat, and once she and I
> agreed on the service to be performed, I sat down and began tuning the
> piano.  It was an upright Samick, 2 years old that had been tuned 6
> months prior.
>   At this point, most of my customers say something to the effect, "I'll
> be in the other room, if you need anything, just shout."  But not this
> one.  She sat down on a couch 10 feet directly behind me and watched me
> tune the piano pin by pin directly over my shoulder.
>   Feeling a little uneasy, I again engaged her in conversation, hoping
> that she would tire of the idle chit chat, but no such luck.  After 20
> minutes, I found myself losing concentration as I attempted to both tune
> the piano and verbally engage my customer.  I couldn't decide whether
> she was just lonely, since she was a single parent in her early 40's, or
> whether she didn't totally trust me with her piano.  To make matters
> worse, I learned through our chat that I was her third tuner in 2 years
> (was she too demanding?), and because I have pet allergies, I had taken
> an allergy tablet prior to entering her house, so I was feeling a bit
> edgy to begin with.
>   She must have been satisfied because she agreed to have me tune her
> piano again in 6 months.
>   My question is, how do you TACTFULLY handle a situation like this?  My
> business is young, and I am eager to please.  But in this case, my
> eagerness slowed my progress, and I was an hour late for my next
> appointment.
>                                    Flailing in Fayetteville