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Gak!

How did you handle that?

Me, I probably would have horked on the spot...

A dead mouse crushed under the keys, recent enough to be stinky!

Wimps!

In the late 1980s, a very kind, very good, and very old piano teacher decided she would do a final recital for her students. To make it special, she was going to use 6 pianos and do a kind of piano ensemble for the finale.

For the recital, she had her piano moved to an elementary school stage. She then rented the other 5 pianos from a furniture store that "also sells pianos."

I showed up the morning of the recital to tune the six pianos for that evening's recital. Her piano was in decent shape since I would tune it roughly every six months. The other five? They were a blend of 80s vintage Wurlitzer spinets and consoles, all a minimum of 100 cents flat. Seems the furniture store sold pianos as a sideline and didn't really care much about keeping them in tune while they sat on the floor.

That was not a fun day.

Del wins ....... or loses, I guess...

That woman may be a sufferer of Toxoplasmosis. It is theorized that "cat ladies" have been exposed to the parasite, and develop a somewhat unnatural attraction to cats.

It was back in the late 1970s and it was a 4-1/2 year old Steinway Model M. The complaint was “dead bass strings.” I began to identify the problem as I walked up on the porch to ring the bell; there was the strong odor of a cat litter box long in need of changing and cleaning. Except that the litter box turned out to be the piano; the strings were black and there was a half-inch layer of dried cat urine and poop covering the soundboard.

I considered simply leaving but, as a favor to the dealer, I went ahead with the job. I ordered the new strings and enlisted the aid of an assistant. We took every cleaning aid known to mankind with us along with masks and a large window fan. I'll not go into the sordid details of the job—it was worse than your worst nightmare—but the stench was so bad that I can almost smell it today as I write this.

When I gave the owner the bill—it was considerably higher than the normal charge for replacing bass strings—she had the audacity to suggest that, since the piano was only 4-1/2 years old and bass strings should last longer than that, this should really be covered under warranty and would I please send the bill to Steinway. I declined explaining that by allowing her cats to use her piano as a litter box she would have voided any reasonable warranty. She was certainly entitled to try but I wouldn't do it for her; I'll take cash or a check now if you don't mind. She grudgingly paid and I don't know if she ever tried to collect from Steinway or not; when it came to her cats she seemed to have a mental disconnect of some kind.

If you had met her away from her home she would have appeared to be a perfectly normal person. She worked as a dental hygienist in a local clinic. I made sure to get the name of that clinic so I could be sure to avoid it (and her) in the future. She did not go on my list of people to call for repeat tunings and, thankfully, I never heard from her again.

ddf

Del wins ....... or loses, I guess...

That woman may be a sufferer of Toxoplasmosis. It is theorized that "cat ladies" have been exposed to the parasite, and develop a somewhat unnatural attraction to cats.

If this was in the form of a contest, I'd have to vote for Del's dilemma. Eeewou!

Del wins ....... or loses, I guess...

That woman may be a sufferer of Toxoplasmosis. It is theorized that "cat ladies" have been exposed to the parasite, and develop a somewhat unnatural attraction to cats.

Wow, I just read this interesting fact. Did you know that toxoplasmosis is more prevalent in Italians who drive Chevrolets?