[pianotech] Door open, but customer not home - what would you do?

[soundsgreatmusic at sbcglobal.net]

Joe,
I will do my best to verify I'm in the right place and then go on in. Although....on one occasion, I called the night before to verify, showed up at the prescribed time, rang the doorbell, saw a TV on through the window from the porch, car in the drive. I knocked, rang, checked the door, opened a crack, and said "hello I'm here to tune th......." when I was confronted by a guy in his bathrobe with a revolver in his hand. He immediately knew his mistake, mumbled some incomprehensible words, apologized profusely and I composed myself to tune a really rotten spinet.
Ya never know!
Chuck Vetter
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: jimfrazee at msn.com 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 12:18 PM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] Door open,but customer not home - what would you do?


  Joe,

  It's a matter of trust, isn't it?

  You trusted:

      someone opened the gate for you.    

      you were in the right house.

      the dog wasn't a man killer.

      the cars outside didn't belong to robbers.

      whoever opened the gate wasn't Freddy Kruger.

      the people who can home later were in fact the owners.

  They trusted:

      you were in fact a piano technician.

      you didn't rob them blind.

      you didn't eat their cookies.

      you'd bill them accordingly, including hazardous duty pay.

  Seriously, even though it's 90 miles, I'd leave a note and bill them for the time/mileage.  What if something HAD happened while you were there?  What if you'd found robbers or a body or whatever . . . 
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