BWAH! I HATE piano dealers! :(

[dlu]

Ok...so I walk into this amazing piano store right behind my house and I give the dudes my resume because I'm looking for a job...And so...I have a stack of music in my hand and ask if I can play. He asks what piano I would like to play on...I say: "fazioli!." And then he tells me that their fazioli (uhuhm...they have like 5) has been lent to the Italian Embassy (which I'm sure is true). And as he's saying that I look over and there are THREE covered Faziolis right there! And then he tells me that a church is coming over to pick a piano today (even though they were NOT there at the time...the store was COMPLETELY empty) and that I should play on a digital. He puts me on a piece of crap digital piano with headphones. And so I just walk out of the store...Might not sound bad to you...but it actually had me pretty upset...I tend to get emotional over pianos

What things have ou experienced at piano dealerships?

DLu

[Michele Felice]

It sounds like you were very disappointed in the way they treated you--you were expecting to be treated as if you were a customer and you were not. It also sounds like they are very protective of their most expensive pianos, for which I would not blame them at all.

Whenever a piano is played, it inevitably gains marks of wear-and-tear which reduce its potential value to a purchaser. Remember that Faziolis are among the most costly of pianos.

I wonder what kind of job you were applying for. Sales? In fairness, an applicant for a sales job is not likely to be treated like a customer, anywhere, but will also be expected to present himself or herself impeccably and, essentially, to show the utmost respect for, and compliance, with the wishes of, anyone he or she has to deal with.

It sounds to me like you had your sense of your role confused. The piano shop you visited might well be a very good one which treats its customers extremely well. The way it treats its potential employees might be designed to be a real test of attitude towards frustration, of patience, of self-effacement and so on. The cost to a piano shop of hiring an arrogant employee might be very high.

You might well telephone the owner or manager and explore these ideas openly. Apologize if it seems appropriate. If you do so, I would not be surprised if they asked you back to play for them and explore how you might fit into their workforce. Employers ususally like to hire employees who learn quickly; they also know that all their new employees are going to make mistakes.

[dlu]

It sounds like you were very disappointed in the way they treated you--you were expecting to be treated as if you were a customer and you were not. It also sounds like they are very protective of their most expensive pianos, for which I would not blame them at all.

Whenever a piano is played, it inevitably gains marks of wear-and-tear which reduce its potential value to a purchaser. Remember that Faziolis are among the most costly of pianos.

I wonder what kind of job you were applying for. Sales? In fairness, an applicant for a sales job is not likely to be treated like a customer, anywhere, but will also be expected to present himself or herself impeccably and, essentially, to show the utmost respect for, and compliance, with the wishes of, anyone he or she has to deal with.

It sounds to me like you had your sense of your role confused. The piano shop you visited might well be a very good one which treats its customers extremely well. The way it treats its potential employees might be designed to be a real test of attitude towards frustration, of patience, of self-effacement and so on. The cost to a piano shop of hiring an arrogant employee might be very high.

You might well telephone the owner or manager and explore these ideas openly. Apologize if it seems appropriate. If you do so, I would not be surprised if they asked you back to play for them and explore how you might fit into their workforce. Employers ususally like to hire employees who learn quickly; they also know that all their new employees are going to make mistakes.

Well the thing is...is that I actually know the vice president who I dealt with. My teacher is actually friends with him. She spoke with him about me wanting a job helping out around the store and he told her to tell me to drop off a resume becuase they had no slots currently open. I was looking foward to playing some grands becuase I only have an upright at home. I do understand them being protective but...you can see how it's frustrating wanting to just play and them telling me I can only play on a little digital with headphones...my teacher told me to play for him...

It wasn't like an interview. It was me dropping off a "resume" to remind them to think of me when their "helper" quit. I just walked up to the guy, told him how my lessons were going with the teacher he reccomended my to and I asked if I could play any pianos. It was a very casual thing. They would've only have been interested in me if I was going to buy something...
 
Comment are welcome...I'm probaby overreacting anyway...I'm actually over it now...I still need to get my hands on those pianos some way...

DLu

[iumonito]

Best wishes in your job hunt.  You seem to have gotten very much on the wrong foot with this potential employer.  If you write this story to Ann Landers (who knows, maybe she reads these posts) I have a hunch she would point out that the potential employer probably got the sense you just wanted the job so that you could have access to the pianos for free.  Nobody likes to be taken advantage of like that.

Make yourself worthy and all fallboards will be open for you.  Show that you can showcase any piano, lame or Fazioli, and the Faziolis will be open to you.

Or get a gig playing a recital in a hall with the piano.

Good luck with your growing up,

(BTW, I have had my bad experiences with piano dealers.  One in particular runs an add every two months or so that he is closing down his warehouse, I have lived around this area for three years, so i have seen the add about 18 times.  Funny.)

[jr11]

I hate to break this to you... but the ability to play the piano has almost zero to do with piano sales. The most successful salesperson I know can play only a few chords. The very worst thing you can do is to play better than your potential customer... it will intimidate them and drive them away. Sales is a skill about people, and if you can be successful selling one commodity, you can likely be good with almost anything with minimal training.

It is hard to say why they wouldn't let you play the top pianos. Probably they knew you couldn't afford one. A piano store is not a playground... those extremely expensive instruments are for sale. It is unlikely you would be allowed to test drive a Maserati either unless the sales person knew you were serious.

[Kassaa]

I went into a piano dealer, played some boogie woogie on a grand and the seller said he knew a good teacher for that kind of music and gave me the phone number

[chickering9]

...The very worst thing you can do is to play better than your potential customer...

I can't imagine why that would ever matter.  When I was shopping, I was very grateful to find a wonderful salesman who could play anything and did so for me, even congenially taking diverse requests, so that I could stand back and really listen to each and every piano from a listener's perspective.  I'd probably be very disinclined to give much weight to a salesman's perspective on action if he were *not* a darn good player himself.

[puma]

     Wow, it seems as if the owner or saleperson was being overprotective of the pianos, and if that brand seems to be the most expensive, then he had a right to be so protective.  It depends on the store, though...I know this one guitar center where people come and literally play for hours - they have organs and digital pianos there, too (I think only one acoustic, however) and I wonder - why do they let them play forever?  Doesn't this take up time? I imagine that they believe it helps increase sales, and it brings in customers.   Honestly, when I go, I usually spend an hour or so there but only spend a few bucks on strings and books....sometimes more than a few dollars.