No Shows

[Roger C Hayden]

Piano lessons and no shows,

Having students/parents pre-pay a month of lessons is good policy.  Less
absenteeism, better pay for teachers, parents are more likely to get
their kids to practice because they sense the larger amount going out. 
Parents take music lessons more seriously.  Teachers take their teaching
more seriously.   Pianos are used more, music will more likely enhance
the player and their families for their lifetime.  Hey, everybody wins. 
Charge by the month.

Roger C. Hayden, RPT, former private piano teacher.

On Wed, 29 Dec 1999 19:39:09 EST Wimblees@AOL.COM writes:
> No Shows    
> 
> When someone works for a large corporation, they have a job 
> description. 
> Employees are required, as part of their job, to do certain tasks. 
> If an 
> employee is asked to do something that isn't in their job 
> description, they 
> can refuse to do it, even if it might mean additional income. Or, 
> looking at 
> it another way, there might be some tasks in the job that a worker 
> really 
> doesn't like or want to do, but it is part of the job description. 
> That 
> worker has one of two options. Do the work, or quit and find another 
> job. 
> 
> My wife teaches piano lessons. One of the problems she constantly 
> complains 
> about is students who don't show up for lessons. She has developed a 
> rather 
> involved policy that basically states only sickness or prearranged 
> absences 
> are excused. For all other absences, the student pays for the 
> lessons. But no 
> matter how hard she tries, there are some students, (or rather the 
> parents), 
> who try to get away without paying for missed lessons. After 
> listening to her 
> complain once too often, I finally said to her: "missed lessons are 
> part of 
> the job description of being a piano teacher. Either accept it, or 
> quit 
> teaching". 
> 
> We all have to deal with customers not being home for scheduled 
> tuning 
> appointments. The dreaded NO SHOWS. There have been several articles 
> written 
> about the subject, offering miscellaneous ways to avoid them, like 
> calling 
> the night before, or sending a reminder letters. There have also 
> been 
> articles written on how to collect a fee from the clients who stood 
> you up. 
> After trying a couple of ways to prevent no shows, and trying a 
> couple of 
> ways to collect from the customers, (to no avail),  I have come to 
> the 
> conclusion, that no matter how I try, there are always going to be 
> no shows, 
> and I am never going to get paid for them. And what all of this has 
> made me 
> realize is that no shows are one of the job descriptions of being a 
> piano 
> tuner. 
> 
> That doesn't mean I like them. What it does mean is that I don't get 
> upset 
> about them. For most people, having a piano tuned is not a top 
> priority. I am 
> very happy people get their piano tuned, but if someone forgets an 
> appointment, that's OK. I always give the benefit of doubt to the 
> customer. 
> Whatever their reason was to forget the appointment, from the 
> customer's 
> point of view, the reason is valid, even if I don't think so. 
> 
> One time the customer had a very good excuse not to be home. When 
> she called 
> a week later to reschedule, she told me that the night before the 
> appointment 
> she was rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. She actually 
> apologized 
> for not calling me to cancel the appointment. (Imagine that, 
> forgetting to 
> cancel the piano tuner on your way to the hospital with a heart 
> attack. What 
> will customers think of next?) Even if not being home was for an 
> excuse like 
> getting a hair cut, or going for a walk, maybe to me it isn't a good 
> excuse, 
> but for a customer, it is a good reason. 
> 
> When a customer isn't home, or doesn't answer the door, I call them 
> from my 
> cell phone. (If you don't have a cell phone, then go to the corner 
> store and 
> call from there).  I leave a message on the answering machine 
> informing them 
> I was at the house at the appointed time, and I ask them to call to 
> reschedule. (If there is no answering machine, I leave my business 
> card in 
> the door). When the customer does call, I don't make a fuss, and I 
> gladly 
> reschedule the appointment. 
> 
> About half the time I do call from my cell phone, however, the 
> customer is 
> home. (This is a one of the best reasons to carry a cell phone). I 
> have found 
> customers in the back yard, or in the basement running the wash, or 
> vacuuming 
> the rugs. One time I got the answering machine, but because I was 5 
> minutes 
> early, I waited about fifteen minutes, and called again. The 
> customer was 
> home, but she was talking on the phone, and her call notes took the 
> call. 
> When I called that second time, we actually found ourselves talking 
> to each 
> other through the screen door on the our respectful phones. Another 
> time, I 
> was actually at the
> wrong house. And I have called getting the customer's cell phone, 
> and she was 
> in her car five minutes away. 
> 
> No shows are part of the job description of being a piano tuner. It 
> comes 
> with the territory. So the next time you are stood up, just accept 
> it as part 
> of your job description, which also allows you to take a nap, read a 
> book, or 
> go shopping during the middle of the day.  If you don't like that, 
> then get 
> another job.  
> 
> Willem Blees
> 
> PS. I wrote this article for the St. Louis Chapter newsletter 
> several months 
> ago. This past weekend my wife and I watched a very interesting 
> movie about a 
> family with an autistic son. Part of the story line involved one of 
> the 
> siblings who was a very good pianist. Throughout the story (which 
> took place 
> over a period of about 35 years), the piano was always in tune. 
> Obviously the 
> family got the piano tuned on a regular basis. What I got to 
> thinking about 
> is that throughout the years, through all the trials and 
> tribulations of this 
> family, somehow the piano tuner was scheduled to tune the piano. But 
> at any 
> one moment, an emergency could have caused the appointment to be a 
> no show. 
> 
> The point I am making is that even though this was a movie, in real 
> life, 
> emergencies do happen.  And it doesn't matter what kind of emergency 
> it is, 
> or why an appointment was canceled, the time was lost. It can not be 
> made up, 
> and you've lost the income. It is part of the job description. 
> Accept it, and 
> don't let it upset you.