[pianotech] Rodent Piano - Refuse to Service?

[John Formsma]

Terry,

I generally don't worry too much about old urine and droppings. The
droppings get vacuumed up, and the hands get washed. I supposed it would
depend on how bad the house/situation was. Yeah, I'd refuse if need be. We
each have our tolerances.

There was one time I refused. I'd done service before for this old librarian
(an actual old maid). She had numerous cats. A cat had peed on a section of
treble strings, right at the hitch pins. They had all rusted and were
broken. It was nasty. There was some cat urine smell in the house, but I
figured maybe I could work through it and help the old lady out.  So I told
her I would come back at a later date to replace the section of strings. On
the drive home, I started having allergic reactions, though I'm allergic to
only a very few cats. So I called back and said I couldn't do the work. I
was actually glad for the allergies that time, as I didn't want to have to
tell her directly that her house smelled terrible and I really didn't want
to do the job. Shoulda had a backbone, but I didn't at that time. Perhaps I
need to take 2 Ger.Groot pills and get over it. :-)

--
JF

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 5:27 PM, Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>wrote:

> Have any of your folks ever refused to work on a piano in someone's home
> that had lots of rodent droppings and urine in it - all over the keys,
> keybed, etc.
>
> I have one that I looked at, had to order some parts (super minor things)
> and told them I'd be back to repair and tune. I have been wanted to NOT do
> that piano ever since. I wish to call her back and decline to do any work
> (keys) on it - this thing is infested (not to mention the place smells like
> an uncleaned 10,000-animal dog kennel). Lady seems nice enough.
>
> This is the worst case I've ever run into. Am I nuts or am I thinking
> reasonably?
>
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