My mistake.....my lesson....a cautionary tale

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

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    David, don't go all wobbly on us now, buddy. You just got an overly =
sensitive "artist" , and by the way, I agree perfectly with Wim's =
assessment, and I'm sure the piano sounded just wonderful. If they =
wouldn't let you work with the performer to bring it back to something =
that would have made them happy, then they're just "nuts", and I =
wouldn't worry about it too much.=20
    I recently got a service order to set up a new Disklavier C2 in =
North Scottsdale. (Think Beverly Hills). It seems that these people =
demanded that the piano be delivered in the box. They just didn't want =
any piano that had been on the floor, and they didn't want to come down =
to the shop and watch it being uncrated, I guess. So I go up there, it's =
about an hour drive, and the lady of the house comes out to greet me, =
from the garage. She asks me if I can take off my shoes in the garage, =
and I say "of course". She's not oriental, but if she wants me to leave =
my shoes in the garage, no problem. When I walk into the house, it's all =
tile. I'm starting to think; "what, I'm going to get her tile dirty?"
    I get to the piano, and go to put my tool cases down on the tile, =
and she says, "You can't put your cases on my floor, I don't know where =
they've been."  (OOhhh, starting to get scary here, says I. )  I also =
have a nice table that I use to go over the regulation on, and I guess =
the rubber casters are not Kosher either.=20
    I usually have a cut down moving pad that I carry with me, but =
today, I'm driving my Tacoma truck, so she finds some construction paper =
and I put that down. I took the case parts off the piano, and go to put =
them on the carpet in the sunken lower living room, and she says; "Don't =
put that there, you'll leave dents in the carpet."  Well, at least I =
don't have to worry about her coming at me with an ax, she'd get blood =
everywhere!
    So, finally we have it all worked out, I'm going over the action =
regulation, pitch raising, seating strings, doing software updates, =
calibrating the disklavier,,,,etc. etc. etc.=20
    I finally get all done, I just want to go over the tuning once more, =
and do a little voicing; it's a lively room, what with all that tile and =
all those windows, but you know, after an hour drive and 3 1/2 hours of =
working on her piano, I've got to get rid of some of that coffee that I =
had on the way to the job. So I ask her, "May I please use a restroom?"  =

    I can tell you, I've never felt such a sense of shock as when she =
told me; "No, because then I would have to clean it, there's a =
construction site about seven or eight lots down, and I think that I saw =
one of those portable bathrooms down there." So I said, never mind, I'll =
be done here in a couple of minutes. Finished a quick final tuning and =
got the heck outta there. I would have been glad to have voiced it, but =
you know, if you're that rude, too bad.=20

    I realize your experience was totally different, and that you're =
taking it as a personal affront to your abilities, but from what I've =
read, you seem to have more than enough confidence and knowledge to =
succeed in whatever you do. Hey, we deal with people all the time, some =
people go through a lot of techs mostly because they can't find anyone =
who can put up with them.=20

    I hesitate to put my name to this, but I am
    Kevin E. Ramsey
    
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