The guy who looked at your set obviously didn't want to work on it. It would have been nice if he would have just been honest with you and said that, instead of putting on the show he did. I've never learned the fine art of diagnosing electrical problems (other than intermittents) by tapping the circuit with the back end of a screwdriver
I agree with the other posters. If the set had a good picture the last time it was turned on, the likelihood that your CRT has gone bad is pretty low, and you should be able to fix the set. These were great sets, and should last a long time once you fix it. I vote that you give it a shot.