Fresh out of art school many years ago I got screwed a few times by shaky 'clients' but this is a national organization and just the idea of her work being sold in Virgin Records worldwide must have sent this young lady over the moon. She wouldn't receive any monetary compensation but the exposure is priceless. Can you imagine how many people she's told by now? How many people her proud parents have told?
My heart aches for her.
The young artist will have to go through the same stuff we had to, eoe. And she'll learn the same lessons. It's just tough to watch, isn't it?
GRRRRRR!
I am getting sick and tired of wasting my time and talents on clients who want something for as-close-to-nothing-as-possible.
Anybody else feel the same way?
Now Eva. That's the way of the world, isn't it? Naturally, people are going to want to pay as little as possible for your services. You want to pay your plumber or the electrician as little as possible, right?
You've just got to get yourself in a position where you can say no
But for today, grit your teeth! GRRRRR!!!!!
Oh, I can say no, eoe! I can DEFINITELY say no!
I just got yelled at by a client. He (sorta) designed a new logo for himself using one of those internet sites that give you a selection of images & limited fonts. Of course, he couldn't make it look exactly like what he wanted, so he paid them the $149 for the jpg, eps & gif files and brought them to me to fix. (Big sigh.) The site doesn't give out their original Illustrator files or copyrights, of course, so I had to recreate one so I could turn it into 4-color. He doesn't understand why he should pay me to do that, although I've explained it every which way. The truth is, he just screwed himself paying that site. But I'm catching the flack for it. Stupid client.
You're not kidding. And they just kill me when they 'don't understand' why they should have to pay. Playing nut-role with you. It's not that deep to understand.
The thing to do is turn it around and use a scenario from his business for example. Oh, but you said that you've explained it every which way, huh?
GRRRRR. Hold the work hostage until he pays up.
I've already sent him the files. I just sent an invoice and a cover letter explaining everything one more time. I waived my account service time and the rush fee I should have charged him, and noted that, too. I also told him what the going rates are for this work in this market. Oh, and I made sure he knew his copyrights are contingent on full payment. AND I told him I did not appreciate being yelled at, and that he owes me an apology.
It is obvious to me now that he knows very little about buying art services. I certainly have no more than a limited responsibility for educating him. I will simply not stand for this "shoot the messenger" stuff. I did what I was asked to do, professionally and in a timely manner. And if he doesn't pay me for doing it, I'll have my attorney send him a letter.
I've been through this before. It's always irritating, though.
Eva
Your client sounds like a confused, disorganised jerk! I'm offended on your behalf!
THANK YOU, msolga!
I have always taken good care of my clients. I make them look and sound good, and I watch out for their interests. I have a lot of experience, but I charge reasonably. I only take on the clients that I want. This one was referred to me by another long-time client who knows to trust me. However, unless this guy does a quick 180, I'm not going to agree to do anything else for him...ever.
He had the audacity to suggest that I was probably going to overcharge him because I had never even told him what I charge for my services. I reminded him that he never asked...he just brought me the work and asked me to do it as fast as possible, so that's what I did. Then he got very angry. Tsk, tsk. Not my fault.
What really bothers me is that people like this place no value on the work I do. They treat me like I'm selling a product (Public Relations 'R' Us)instead of providing a service and working as their partner. I don't need clients like this.
Eva wrote:He had the audacity to suggest that I was probably going to overcharge him because I had never even told him what I charge for my services. I reminded him that he never asked...he just brought me the work and asked me to do it as fast as possible, so that's what I did. Then he got very angry. Tsk, tsk. Not my fault.
What really bothers me is that people like this place no value on the work I do. They treat me like I'm selling a product (Public Relations 'R' Us)instead of providing a service and working as their partner. I don't need clients like this.
No you don't Eva! He didn't think you charged for services!!!!!!?
Good grief!
Get that letter from your lawyer in the post pronto, if he doesn't pay. He's wasted enough of your time (AND good will) already. Not a second, more! And let the client who referred him know that Eva's not happy! As we say in Oz, what a drop kick!
Oh, he knows I'll charge him. He's just going to complain now that anything I charge is too much. He thought he was going to get a custom logo for $150 (HAHAHAHA!!!!!), and now it's going to cost him $270 on top of that because all he got for his original $150 was a rough concept. I'm billing him for more to finish the logo than he thought he would have to spend total. (Frankly, he's lucky to get it for that.) Some people never learn: You Get What You Pay For. ALWAYS. No Exceptions.
You're absolutely right. I need to let my referring client know that he was a real pain to deal with. I shall do that. <nods head>
But right now, I'm going to have a nice glass of wine and forget about this.
Well, it was yesterday actually ...
Decided to take a car trip on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Only to discover that almost the whole back window was covered in bird ****! And I MEAN covered! An amazing sight!
Now I'm wondering if It was just one bird with a very upset stomache or whether all the birds in the neighbourhood had ganged up on me! Erk.
I have decided not to grimace and grit my teeth any longer. So what if I won't be doing color brochures & direct mail campaigns for the cheapskate client. It wouldn't have been worth the headaches anyway. If he calls and apologizes, I will tell him I don't think we're a good match, and he should find someone else.
Now. On to more important things.
I had an interview with a tall and skinny (bird-like, she said later about herself) blond girl for a summer sub-let last spring. I thought she seemed nice, but was worried about her frail appearance. I worried about eating disorders and personality traits that went with those issues. But, it was just for a couple months during the summer, I could handle anything for a couple months.
She moved in and proved to be a fascinating young womam. She just graduated with a doctorate in statistics, she had a penchant for psychology and wanted to get into medicine. And she was extraordinarily kind.
She was stronger than her skinny bones seemed they could bear. Her dad was hospitalized with chronic leukemia a few weeks ago, she'd just been here a couple weeks when she left for home to be with him and her mom.
Like her, he was stronger than expected. He rallied and came out of the ICU only to be re-admitted a couple days later. He spent 4 weeks in and out of ICU, she tried to be here and work at her new job.
Finally, she went home and decided to take a leave of absence from a job she'd only worked 6-7 days at. Here boss is a psychiatric doctor at a well-known hospital and understood quite a bit about her. He'd wait until September for her to be part of his staff.
The last time she was here, between visits to Chicago, she talked a bit about her dad. She'd had talks with him when he was able and seemed to realize the gravity of his situation. She teared, but didn't cry. She never lost her cool. I just recieved an email saying that her dad had passed. I thought he'd beat this, he seemed to be such a fighter.
And, now I am at a total loss for words.
That's very sad, littlek.
