Evenings and weekends

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Clyde,


>Friends:
>
>I assume you, like myself, receive requests for piano service during
>evenings and weekends.  There are people where no one is home during
>normal working hours, or the building is occupied, and there are weekend
>concerts.
>
>When I was building my clientele, I worked whenever and was glad for the
>work.  But now, with more work than I can handle, I find it a little
>hard not to resent being asked to do a tuning during "off" hours, but I
>also wouldn't like to say, "Sorry, I don't work (holidays, weekends,
>whatever)."

* After a day of tuning, I need the evening to heal up. After a week of
tuning, I REALLY need the weekend to heal up. While I often spend that
weekend in the shop, I am abusing a different set of joints. There is
already too much that needs done for the time and energy that I have
available. I really don't feel that I must accommodate EVERY person that
calls. If their basement were filling with sewage, they would gladly take a
day off (probably PAID sick leave) and pay a plummer twice my rates to come
during normal hours and take care of it. With the myriad utterly pointless
paid vacations and holidays everyone out there seems to take as their due,
we can find something within normal working hours that won't inconvenience
them too much, or they can call someone else. The holidays they get, that I
don't, are the best bet here. 



>Has anyone tried looking at these times as overtime and charging more? 
>If so, how do clients or potential customers respond?  Are they grateful
>or resentful if they can find someone to accommodate them at an extra
>cost?  If this has worked for you, how much extra do you charge?  Your
>input will be helpful. 

* When someone absolutely insists that it must be a Saturday tuning, I have
suggested the more or less industry standard (at least it used to be) of
time and a half for overtime. Almost without exception, they have been
incensed that I would suggest the same sort of compensation they consider to
be their birthright. They have, after all, chosen me as being afforded the
opportunity to render service to someone as exalted as themselves, and I
should be grateful for the opportunity to hurl myself from whichever cliff
they happen to specify on their behalf and at their whim. I have also
offered to allow them to take the morning off to accommodate me, and work a
couple of hours late in the evening to make up for it. They almost always go
ballistic at this suggestion, as if only the "lower classes" work evenings
or weekends, and they are insulted at the implication and I can actually see
their noses go up in the air (right over the phone) as they sputter at me.
By now, I have their undivided attention and I ask if they have someone who
can let me in and 'tuner sit'. This used to work better than it does now.
Most new customers are from out of area, and don't have anyone available to
do this. How about if they can come home for lunch and let me in then? This
seems to work best. They get the feeling of having 'won' in getting me to
make a concession to working outside normal hours, they don't miss out on
any of the critical office politics, and I don't have to tune all bloody
night. I'm a little more accommodating for loyal regulars, but not much. If
they know and appreciate my work enough to meet me half way, a reasonable
compromise can usually be reached. There's a mutual respect here that makes
for a really pleasant working environment.  



>
>Maybe I should add, in case you're wondering, that I do bend to favor my
>regular clients.  I am trying to build their loyalty to me, and I
>respond by being loyal, and available, to them.  
>
>Thank you.
>Clyde Hollinger

* Within whatever limits you consider to be reasonable, sure. Well, that's
my call. It's the distillation of experience through the years that has
shown the best survival potential for me. I'm considerably more diplomatic
during negotiations than is evident here, unless my evil twin 'Skippy'
happens to get to the phone first, so it's not as bad as it looks.

 Ron