Client Rant!

[glorybound]

Maybe not the place, but I would like to know your protocol. This client needed something Today by 5 pm and he came to me yesterday. I said, and I quote, "I'll do what it takes, but then it is done". I worked all day yesterday, last night, and emailed him the FINAL about an hour ago. This is the reply I just got.

"We have a few extra days, till next Monday now. They boosted the story till next week.
Good because now we can dial this in.. IT will be an asphalt driveway and the buildings should look sort of like the colors and materials in this sample here.
The artwork scans we sent were just the 3d scans of the original sculptures Enclosed are samples of the patina these should be... Except for the Single Ferrari Stallion.. he should be silver".

This made up deadline is bogus and isn't good business, it is lying! Client management is my biggest problem and it is getting old. I don't want to get callused, but it is getting there. I'll hold off on my reply because if I reply now, I'll bury him. Sigh...!

[andybot_cg]

My internal guide is: "There is no such thing as an architectural emergency." Sorry you gave in to the client pressure.

[francomanko]

Firstly,, bad business sure, lying...bit strong, but i can imagine you havent had much sleep

Anyway maybe their deadlines got muddled up somewhere, or they are clueless, who knows, not your concern...point is that you made the choice to accept the initial deadline, so you should charge more because of the quick turnover, also if the deadline extends, charge them for the extra time. You completed the original task, if they want more then they have to pay.

You are the master of your own time.

[glorybound]

Oh, they know. It's an old trick, which is why I told him that I'll do what it takes, but then it's done. It's the old bait and switch. I realize that they don't want any surprises and they want time to review things, but those are called milestones, not deadlines.

[joconnell]

Charge hourly rates for rush jobs in future maybe? I've gotten the exact same thing over and over and the rush deadline really ruins your chances of doing any decent work the day after - you need rest to operate efficiently and prevent mistakes, clients are cheating themselves of the best work by pulling this type of thing!

[Morbid Angel]

Yeah I would clause this with saying that work past the deadline is a new cost / overage whatever you want to call it.

[glorybound]

Yes, nobody wins, so I don't know where they are learning this tactic. It's like when they say that if this one works I have a ton of work for you in the future. To me, both are red flags phrases. They think that they are being clever, but they are not. An hourly rate might be my new protocol on these rush projects. They butt in line this way and it's not fair for my other projects.

[Morbid Angel]

its exactly it. When clients try to low ball me or make me work on lower rate and I don't budge I explain to them that this puts them in a disadvantage against other projects which are paying the rate I am asking, quickly this fixes the situation.

[glorybound]

My contract is very clear. It says that a deadline is a deadline and any work after has to be scheduled per hour. I just try to please people and I don't want them to get in a bind, however, it usually puts me in a bind. I would never give someone who is doing work for me a dumb deadline, knowing that they'll not sleep, so I have more time to review things before the real deadline. I am getting tired!

[joconnell]

I read a great book on failure based learning called "black box thinking" which compares various industries and their attitudes to failure. In the medical industry, surgeons rarely re-examine their failures as they're supposed to be perfect, and not make mistakes which harm their patients. Looking at mistakes might make them doubt themselves and thus be incapable of doing their jobs. If they make a mistake, someone else dies and they chalk it up to "one of those things". In the airline industry on the other hand, any time a pilot makes a mistake, they have 9 days to log it with an aviation authority, the report is made anonymous and there's no blowback on the pilot. The aviation authority doesn't care about the mistake, only the data - if the same mistake comes up again and again it's likely a design or training error and they want to fix that. If it's only a one off it's just a pilot error. The big difference with the pilots though is unlike the surgeon, the pilots have a vested interest in being as safe as possible - if they make an error they drop out of the sky with all their passengers too which is a pretty big incentive

If a client asks you to dash on something, changes the schedule after and there's no consequence for them why wouldn't they do the same thing again? It's a pity that some people are okay with other people wrecking themselves (or have zero idea how hard you're actually working) as it really creates a lopsided greedy arrangement between customer and service provider :/

[glorybound]

Well said. I think I’ll pick the book up.

[Morbid Angel]

Its also a case to consider turning down such jobs. Its not like you are jobless right? I always weight that in - is it worth the effort? I have to work day and night etc it better be or else pass.

[glorybound]

Yep, you are correct. But then again, I like to help. I have been working 18 hour days for the last two months, so no, I don't need the work or the headache. I just get mad when people try to take advantage of me or anybody else. I kind of like to share so people learn. Maybe if they get the call for a last minute project with little information they raise the red flag. I am getting tired of the 10 projects a month with ten different clients. I am ready for the large project that'll keep me off the market for months.

[squintnic]

I would ditch this guy. Watermark your work and be insistent on hourly charge outside of the agreed drafts. Its the only way...Once per year I have to get a lawyer involved to get paid and I feel like this guy is also going to be a pain getting paid from.

[JuhaHo]

Great topic,

I have this all the time. They also think I can read their minds. And Bobby, be careful out there not to work too much. I made that mistake a year ago and got an illness, that ruined my left eye for good.

OT. Which is the correct term in English: client or customer? I asked this one during Siggraph -97 (I don't remember which booth), and they told me to use customer. Google translate gives me four option in this order: Customer, client, account, diner. Anyway. it often suggest hilarious translations. A very common Welder for instance is a "flying shit receiver".