charging for service

[robert moffatt piano service]

Peggy C. Bie wrote:

> I am a visually disabled elderly widow.  Say I have a problem with my piano or
> organ.  I have no income but a measly govt pension for disability.  I call you
> and need a screw tightened.  Since I am visually impaired I can't see the slot
> in the screw.  I ask for help.  In order to get it (I live alone, no husband
> or kids or greedy selfish neighbors will help), I should pay you for your
> vacation, for your office expenses, for your overhead, for your driving to 200
> other customers, etc ad nauseum.  God free me from contacting you.  What
> happened to "love your neighbor"?  Do you assume I have savings or the ability
> to earn an income?  I not only can't afford you, I don't want you.  I'd rather
> do without.  Poor young mothers, abandoned by men, can't afford day care and
> music lessons, much less instruments or instrument repaired.  Maybe I should
> learn to hate music.  Maybe I should hate our greedy society.  Why should any
> customer pay you for your overhead?  I WILL NOT.  In fact, I don't even want
> to know you.  May God have mercy on your souls, blood-suckers.
> Peggy C. Bie
> "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." -Anais Nin
> http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/1095

Ms. Bie;

There is a story you might find edifying.  A steam-boat captain had a problem with
the engines.  They were making a horrible clanking and caused his passengers
nothing but grief.  So, the captain called in an engineer to fix the problem.  The
engineer looked around the engine room, listened to some pipes, checked the
bearings, and finally pulled out a small hammer and gave the boiler a tap.
Problem solved.

The captain later received a bill for $1000.  Aghast, the captain asked the
engineer for an itemized list.  The engineer happily provided the following:

            One tap of the hammer:        $1
            Knowing where to tap:        $999

The moral, of course, is that you are paying for knowledge and experience that
comes from years of training.  You noted that only one screw needed tightening.
Which, pray tell, of the 12,000 odd parts was the faulty one?  This is not to say
that all piano technicians charge outrageous fees for small work.  In fact, I am
discovering that, in the course doing a 'simple' tuning, a lot of other work is
done gratis simply because it needs doing (adjusting squeaky pedals, seating that
one singing damper, tightening screws, etc...).  Overall, I believe that we
provide excellent value for the relatively little money we charge.

As for overhead...you pay for that in every instance.  For example, when you pass
the collection plate, does all of the money go to charitable works, or does some
go to pay the electric bill?

The next time you have a loose screw, please send up the instrument in question
(whichever one that might be) and I'll be pleased to do the work for nothing.

Scott Pickett
Apprentice Piano-Tech, Projectionist, and Philosopher

Ex ungue ad leonem.