[Trombone-l] Trombone is cool because it is simple

[Stan Brager]

Chris;

I truly sympathize with you. When I was growing up, if something broke or
needed some repairs, you took the item to a craftsman who either told you
that if was broken beyond repair or fixed what was wrong - I can't remember
taking anything back because it wasn't repaired correctly.

Today, that concept of the craftsman has been largely lost and forgotten,
service technicians are poorly trained and paid, and companies are trying to
accomplish service on the cheap. To compound the problem even more, many
technicians who understand the technical aspect of the products they service
don't understand their products from the non-technical aspect of their
customers.

I miss the craftsmen and women of earlier days.

Stan
Stan Brager
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Tune" <crtune at adelphia.net>
To: "Stan Brager" <sbrager at socal.rr.com>; "Trombone-L"
<TROMBONE-L at server5.SAMFORD.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Trombone is cool because it is simple


> We don't know how lucky we are with our musical instrument purchases.
> Generally we know if something is included or missing from our "kit".
>
> I just got through a NIGHTMARE having gotten a port replicator (model
> xb2000) for my HP laptop. . . .the $150 port rep came without an adaptor
to
> match my model of laptop. . .. and that was just the BEGINNING of the hell
I
> had to face. . . .you see the HP website and literature makes it sound
like
> you can attach a model zv5000 laptop to this port replicator ("NO!" . .
.of
> course not. . .that would be too easy).  But the reality is that you need
an
> adaptor. . .
>
> I spent a fourty five minute pleasant session with a guy from the area
> somewhere not far from India (yes, you can judge these things by the sound
> of people's voices).  Nice guy. . .just didn't speak english (or American
> English for the academics) quite well enough to be doing customer service
> for a technical company.
>
> After almost ordering an $85 power supply order. . . .which, when he was
> nice enough to say "AC adapter" . . .I then cancelled, cancelled,
cancelled.
>
> Imagine if you bought a trombone and you only found out after you got the
> order sent to you that no MOUTHPIECE was included and that you needed to
> order one from the online "PARTS STORE".
>
> We don't do that in our world.  In our world, we almost invariably are
able
> to simply disclose what is included and what is not included.  That brings
> us to why the Trombone is one of the coolest musical instruments in the
> world -- it is SIMPLE.
>
> Simple doesn't make life easy, or make mastery easy, in fact it can make
> mastery very hard.  But it makes dealing with the details, the maintenance
> the stucture much easier.   We simpy need to be sure the tubes are not
> dented, and that they are parallel.  We need to periodically clean our
axe.
> We need to practice.   Basic stuff.
>
> LESSON
>
> Always keep things simple [repeat - the simpler way is the better -- it's
> the way the Internet was invented  i.e. IP just works on getting packets
to
> the next point in the network]
>
> Always disclose everything totally, clearly and honestly.  [if I knew
> another part was needed, I'd probably just order it. . .it's the
awkwardness
> of getting a runaround that is hateful] Sometimes it seems like disclosure
> is a burden, but in the end, it's the best policy.
>
> The things that keep businesses from growing beyond a certain size often
are
> hundreds and thousands of tiny ommissions, oversights and
miscommunications.
>
> Very large organizations are infinitely more bureaucratic than small
> organizations and this causes them to be massively more DISFUNCTIONAL in
> tiny ways that make working with them much more frustrating, and much less
> efficient. . . .this breeds a class of "experts" who know the "in's and
> outs" (e.g. your tax preparer)
>
> Anyway, I hope everybody is having a good weekend.  I'm sitting here
trying
> to calm down.
>
> Chris
>
>
>