In a message dated 2/29/00 9:42:09 PM !!!First Boot!!!, pianolover@worldspy.net writes: << fter all was fixed and working smoothly, I walked up to the manager, explained what I did, and that all was well.....then shook his hand and said "no charge." I did this for many reasons, but mainly to assuage any doubts in his mind that i can't handle repairs, and that I am first and foremost dedicated to my job. I know I made points. It felt damn good! Terry >> That was very nice of you Terry. And I am glad you felt good. Unfortunately, now that you did it once, they are going to expect you to do it again, and again, and again. Don't be afraid to charge for your work. They will respect you for it. Now they might even wonder if you might have made a bad mistake, and that is why you didn't charge them. If you keep giving it away, you'll never make it in this line of work. Every hour of every day you are working on pianos, you have to make money. There will be too many hours down the road when you are not going to be working on pianos, and you'll wish you had charged for the few times you didn't get paid. Would you ever considered not charging you former employer for 3 or 4 hours of work, just because you enjoyed doing the work? I bet not. We, (piano tuners), enjoy our work. (At least that is what I have been told, although there are exception.) That is why we are in this business. But even though I enjoy it, I also have to pay the electricity, put food on the table and I like to travel. So I've got the best of two worlds. I enjoy what I'm doing, and I get paid handsomely for doing it. Don't short change yourself. When you do an hours worth of work, be sure you get paid an hours worth. Willem
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC