va te faire foutre

I'm sure my carpenter will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I'm sure my tiler will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.
I'm not sure if my electrician will show up on Wednesday to speak to my clients.




I have decided to go to the extreme and get all the relevant contractors down to speak to my clients, and I have to admit, I kinda wish my contractors would actually scold my clients for me for their ridiculous standards.




My plan is for this project to be handed over by this week, remove my lock from their main gate, get them to sign the necessary paperwork, and then good fucking bye.

When I was arranging the time for my contractors to arrive, I didn't really consider how it would actually affect my client's work schedule because the timing I have scheduled for the contractors to come down together makes it impossible for my client to actually take half day leave, if my client wants to be present, which he will be because he was the one who requested for it, he is going to have to take the whole day off.




I really did not plan for it to be impossible for him to take a half day leave, it just happened. He asked if it was possible for me to reschedule the date, I told him the contractor's schedule will clash, so it was not possible, but that was a lie because I was too lazy to call all 3 of them again to reschedule. I would be lying if I said hearing how the timing would make it inconvenient for them didn't make me a little happy.

The pleasure I got from denying them their convenience.

Felt a little evil and extremely petty.

If it was me one month ago and they asked me if I could reschedule, I would be on the phone calling my contractors to reschedule, but the aggravation they have caused me over the cause of the entire renovation has made me numb to their needs, so screw their needs, now my convenience comes first.



I use the word convenience loosely because this project has been anything but convenient.




But from this project, I have come to learn that going the extra mile for my clients doesn't do me any favors, just give the minimum fucks required for them to not feel the need to complaint about me and that is enough.

Disrespectful

So I actually met one of my old customers today, I have talked about them is this post before.



Well, a little update on what happened after I saw them at the Roadshow.


Turns out when they visited the Roadshow, the designers that they met were not really interested to run their projects for them, so they actually emailed me a few days later, asking me if they could come meet me at my Showroom. I told them that I would be happy to meet them.




I thought since they were looking for me again a second time, chances are they are interested to engage in my services, so I prepared a 3D for them and met them a few days later. They saw my 3D and I ran through the quotation with them, but for some reason, they were not interested, so they thanked me for my time and left. I really didn't bother to get in touch with them after that because I have already offered all I could to them, if they were really interested, they would get in touch with me, if they weren't, then fine.




WELL!



Today, at around 3pm, while I was at the Showroom doing my weekend duty, I actually saw the two of them standing at the front of the Showroom, I was chatting with my colleagues at that time, so when I actually caught a glance of my old customers, I said to them...

"My customer is here?"

... I was really confuse because they did not schedule any appointment with me, we haven't been in touch for more than a month now, so I honestly thought they were here to look for me to sign a contract with me, but as I was about to get up from my seat to go usher them in, my manager whom I was chatting with exclaims...

"They are your customer as well?"

... as well?




And then I see my colleague who was sitting at the table in front of me get up from her chair and usher them in.



Needless to say, everyone got really shock, especially me. Once I inform that colleague about it, she was also really surprised and even though the 2 customers were interested to sign a contract with my colleague, she actually turn them down.



Her reason was that she felt one of them was really weird, a sentiment I shared, and that the amount she will make from the project isn't worth the time and effort, but I like to believe that one of the other reason she decided not to run the project for them was because they used to be my customer and it just didn't feel right to sign a customer that once belonged to me. 




I honestly didn't have any hard feelings towards the 2 customers when they stopped getting in touch with me after I had shown them the 3D drawings, but seeing them today speaking to my other colleague while I was literally seated at the table behind them, that's just extremely distasteful.




If you find my price to be too high and do not want to engage my services, fine, continue your search for another designer that you are more comfortable with who will offer you a better price at a different company.




That's like an unspoken rule, homeowners don't look for another designer in the same company because that is just straight up disrespectful to the other designer who has put in the time and effort towards preparing your design proposal for free.




When a customer decides they are not going to engage my services, they hardly ever inform me about it because they don't feel comfortable actually telling me about it, because that would be the equivalent of telling me...

"Hey, all that time and effort you have put in to meet us and prepare quotations and 3D drawings for us, we just wanted to let you know, it has all been for naught because we have decided not engage your services."

So to actually see those 2 customer walk in to the Showroom today and speak to my colleague while I am literally seated at the table behind theirs, facing them, what audacity.

When they left, I was actually really curious what my colleague had prepared for them because her quote was about $5000 lesser than mine, if she had proposed the same design layout that I have done, there was no way the amount she quoted could have covered the cost.

Well, turns out it was a lot different because a lot of items were taken out and my colleague was actually charging them a higher rate for the each individual items, her profit percentage was actually a lot higher than mine, so had the customer actually came back to me, but adjusted their requirements, my price would have been a lot lower.

Now, I am hoping that they actually realize that and email me for a meet up, so I can turn them down and and tell them to engage my colleague, who has no interest for run their project for them as well, instead.

To see their disrespectful ass returning back to square one and having to continue their hunt for an Interior Designer again, after they have finally decided to settle for one, that's like the best outcome I could wish upon them. 

It's fucking KARMA!





Well anyway, just wanted to do a quick shoutout to my clients from my third renovation project!

A little picture I found of them online

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Fucktards

My client from my third renovation are back at it again, ruining my day and making things fucking difficult for everyone.

Yesterday, they decided to bring their friends over to their house to show them around and when I found out about it, I can't help but get really nervous because there's nothing like a their friend telling them...

"I don't think your ID did a very good job with this."

"Get your ID to redo this part, it's not suppose to be like this."

.... to completely paranoid my already paranoid clients.



Thankfully, the major issues that I felt the house had were not brought up last night, but a lot of plumbing issues were, and I wouldn't really call them issues, but my clients friend turn them into issues for me.



Had I been the one to tell my clients..

"Hey, this is considered normal, so don't be too freaked out by it."

... and then slowly explain to them the reason why, they would have been more open to my reasoning and be convinced by it, but because it is their friend who told them first, I am getting screwed over for it.




Now the reason why I am actually writing a post about them today is not because of the inaccurate information their friends decided to share with them, it is because they themselves are giving me a lot of issues for a minor problem they have with the carpentry works, a small issue that if they want "fixed" would end up causing a lot of problems.



So they have this bedroom in their house that they have decided to convert into a study area, and they requested for a custom study table, so I came up with a design and they butchered it with their boring color selection, everything was confirm until it came to the electrical points, they didn't know where they wanted the points to be at, so I suggested to pull it inside their study table and conceal the top with a lid.

Similar to this. I have seen this done in other projects before so I was sure my carpenter was able to do something similar.




On the day of the installation, I realized my carpenter had open a little hole for the power outlets to sit in, but there wasn't any hinges for the little flap, it was just a loose cover, and so he explains to me that he had left out the hinges because installing it would cause some issues with the accessibility to the power plugs themselves. It made complete sense to me because it was a valid reason, so we proceeded with the installation.





Whether the flap had hinges or not, I felt was not really an issue, the main goal of the lid was to conceal the power outlets and it has achieve that goal, so I didn't really bother telling my clients about it, thinking they would share the same sentiments as me.





They didn't.





When I finally pointed out the issue to them, the husband was not happy about it and kept expressing his disappointment in the group chat, so I kept explaining to them that installing the hinges would make access to the power outlet difficult, to which the husband replied...

"I feel that without the hinges, it will be less user friendly and won't look as nice."

 ... Ummmm

I just told you it is going to be difficult to access the power outlets if you install the hinge and you reply with...

"It's not as user friendly without the hinge."

Do you even read?




And how much more aesthetically pleasing can the hinges be ? The whole point of the lid is to conceal the outlet plugs, which means the hinges are not meant to be seen, so whether the hinge are there or not, no one is going to fucking know visually because it is meant to be concealed.




And really? Aesthetics? I find this particular project to be the least aesthetically pleasing project out of all the projects I currently have on hand, so the addition of a few hinges isn't going to save it from that.




I had a few back and forth with my clients, where I just kept reiterating that it isn't going to benefit them if they installed the hinges, and for some reason, it just doesn't register at all, and then the husband tells me to draw a picture for him because he can't visualize how the hinge will affect the accessibility of the power plugs.

 I was so fucking irritated at that point I just didn't bother replying, I read the message and I am sure on their end, the message is marked as read, but I was so fucking exhausted mentally at that point, I just really didn't give a fuck if it made me come across as unprofessional, but about an hour later, I decided to ask my carpenter to just install the fucking hinges, since they want it so fucking much.




Of course, my carpenter tells me the same thing I told my client, that it won't be easy to use, that if they wanted to install the hinges, they better be sure about it because once those hinges are installed, they cannot be removed.




I really had no strength left to knock some common sense into them, so I just copy and paste whatever my carpenter told me into the group chat for them to read and they were still not fucking convince.





Your Interior Designer is advising you against it but you do not want to listen.
The Carpenter is advising you against it and you still do not want to listen.
The sheer stupidity.



I use to think they were just indecisive, now I can add stubbornness to the mix.




The husband even called me up to check and no amount of reasoning was able to convince him that installing the hinge was a bad idea, I could hear him sighing on the phone every time I tried to advise him against the hinge and I just wanted to sigh out loud as well.



I mean for fuck sake, it's just hinges, it really should not have been such a big deal, but the husband made it into such a big deal, although I am not sure if the wife had anything to say about it because for all I know, the wife could have been the one who was really unhappy about it but the husband was acting as her mouthpiece, I mean she pulled that shit before with the tiles and I fucking detested her for questioning my design decision and then having the audacity to share with me her preferred design, which is FUCKING AWFUL, a sentiment shared by all my colleagues.





Every time I try to do something nice for them, they find a way to pay back my kindness by giving me even more problems.



This concealed power outlet idea, I could have charged them an additional cost for it, but I decided to absorb it for them and look at how they reciprocate my kindness.




I have never been this irritated by a client.
Goes to show, I can't always judge a book by it's cover.
They were a joy to talk to, but a complete nightmare to work with.
Guess the only thing I wish I could say to them is this...

FUCK YOU AND FUCK OFF!

Really just can't wait for this project to be fucking done so I no longer have to deal with them.




---


They just texted me again with a new problem and honestly speaking, it's getting too much.


When I first offered to help them get a doorbell, I didn't think too much about it, I was at the area where they sold door bells, so why not.


They thanked me for it but a few days later, the wife requested for me to get lights for them because they didn't know where to buy it from, so I decided to help them get a few since there are a bunch of lighting shops around the placed I worked at.


They thanked me for it once again and at this point, I started to feel like they were taking advantage of my kindness, I assume that the wife must have thought....

"Oh, he bought once the doorbell once, so what's the harm in trying to get him to help us get the lights."

.... after that, I started to grow a bit wary of their request, and then today, the wife found some issues with the ceiling fan and ask me...

"Can you help us call the fan person?"

... like what the actual fuck? Call him yourself! It's not my fucking electrician who sold you the fan.




Her request was to have the fan shorten and tighten because it was wobbling too much.



Shortening the fan is not my problem, if you want to shorten the fan, get the manufacturer down to cut the rod for you, not my guys, and I told her that shortening the fan was not possible, because it's really not my problem, so even if it could be done, I'm just going to say it can't be done. This couple have honestly caused me so much fucking anxiety I just no longer want to help them anymore, if something can be done, but it's too troublesome for me, then go fix it yourself because I am no longer interested in problems that aren't related to me or any of my contractors.



So after telling her I can't shorten the fan, she decides to list down a to-do list in the group chat, and in one of the to-do, it's...

"Shorten and tighten ceiling fan."

... they don't fucking listen, it's like I'm like talking to two fucking walls.




And not surprisingly, one of the to-do is...

"Install Hinge for Power Outlet Lid."

.... even after sending them the audio message my carpenter send me about the disadvantages of having the hinge installed.

So this is essentially the list of problems I have to fix before the end of next week as listed out by her...



1. Solve Tile Lippage Issue.

2. Install Remaining Carpentry Works

3. Install Single Power Outlet

4.Painting Touch Up

5. Cleaning

6. Adjust Kitchen Tap Weights

7. Fucking Hinges

8. Install Solve Closing Casement Doors

9. Not my fucking problem Ceiling Fan



... and I'm going to run through how fucking invalid some of them area.


Point 1.

I have told them that lippages are to be expected.
Doesn't fucking believe me and keeps thinking my tiler did a bad job.
So I send my tiler down a few days ago and tried to rectify the problem.
The tiler did the best she could and I even told my clients that my tiler has done all she could with the lippage.
The very next day, my clients go back to their unit and started sticking fucking post it notes at the same area my tiler had already fixed.

These 2 fucking walls.



Point 2. - 5.


Completely valid rectification works.


Point 6.

Had they bothered to actually do some research, they could have fixed this issue themselves, all they needed is a screwdriver. So now I have to bring a screwdriver to their site and fix the issue for them.



Point 7.

Fucking Dense as Fuck. Nuff said.



Point 8.

I have told them that the soft closing can be toggled on and off.
There is a little switch for you to toggle on and off.
Even send them a pic of the fucking hinge to show them where the on and off toggle is.
Still list it as a To-Do.
Still list it as "Install"
It's already fucking installed!
IT'S ALREADY FUCKING INSTALLED! MY FUCKING GAWD! READ MY FUCKING TEXT! IT'S ALREADY FUCKING INSTALLED! READ MY GOD DAMN TEXT! LOOK AT THE FUCKING PICTURE I HAVE SEND! FIX IT YOUR FUCKING SELF!


Point 9.

I told them my electrician has already went to double check the fan for them, my side has done all they could.
Doesn't register in their fucking head because it's 2 walls I am speaking to.
Ask me to get my electrician to check again and then writes "shorten ceiling fan"
My fucking gawd.
READ MY FUCKING TEXT!
IT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!
CALL THE FUCKING MANUFACTURER TO FIX IT FOR YOU!


To think I thought their project would be easier to run than my first one. I used to think my first project was the worst because every small imperfection gets scrutinized, but this project has made my first project feel like a breeze.



The problems my first customer had were mostly small aesthetic imperfections, which even though was annoying, wasn't exactly anything that was too drastic. They do their own research and they know how to source for their own suppliers, they were cheap and kept asking for discount, which was really annoying, but they are not dense, they let me make design decisions for them, they listen to my explanations for certain things and even though it takes a while, they will eventually accept it and move on.



This current one. I am typing in caps, bolding the text and then enlarging the text even more. I am legitimately pissed off and extremely irritated by them. They are truly truly annoying and I really wish to have nothing to do with them once this project is over.



I wished they had never signed a contract with me in the first place. All that gratefulness I used to have for them, it's all gone now. I am not grateful for this shit they are putting me through and I am sure as hell not grateful for the measly $1,800 I will be making from their project. It might drop further because I have a bad feeling that the husband might request for certain carpentry to be re-fabricated to fit the fucking hinges.



I just can't get over how the husband is making a mountain out of a molehill.



The additional hinges serves literally no purposes other than being a hindrance and the husband is actually fighting me for it, fighting my carpenter for it. It is fucking ridiculous. I mean if it actually benefits the carpentry, then sure, but it doesn't, it fucking doesn't serve any useful purpose.




That's like someone walking into Starbucks, ordering a frappacuino with Whipped Cream, getting it in this cup...

... and then demanding that they change the cover to a flat one because he wants a flat one, and when the barista tells him...

"If we gave you a flat cover, there won't be any space for the whipped cream."

.... because fucking common sense, but the customer doesn't get it and keeps demanding a flat cover. So the barista gets him a flat cover and ends up smooshing the whip cream into the drink and all over the table, because BITCH! IT DOESN'T FIT!



I don't know how the Starbucks Frappacuino analogy ends because this issue has just begun, and the project is slated to be completed by Friday.


There was only literally suppose to be painting and cleaning for this week, that was suppose to be it. I was expecting to have a happy handover after this, but my clients have managed to really fucking pissed me off in just one day because there's nothing more aggravating than trying and failing to talk common sense into stupid people. 

Abhorrent

I really hate running my third project, just absolutely abhor it.



My clients are a friendly couple and as I have said many times, I am grateful that they gave me a chance many months ago to run their project for them, but the project itself is just not worth the amount of trouble it has put me through.



I have slowly but surely grown to have great disdain towards the project and I honestly cannot wait for it to be over, I am not proud of the design because I think the colour choice my clients have selected is just not anywhere close to my design style at all, it is a very dull colour scheme it looks like inspiration for it was drawn from an interior design magazine in the 90s.



Looking at how the house is coming together, it looks like they didn't even bother hiring a interior designer for their project because there just isn't a single ounce of design in it, from the brown cabinets to the cream coloured casement doors, everything about the flat just feels very flat. Even when I was suggesting some colours for them to add to their boring colour scheme to try and spruce up the design a little, they somehow always settle for the wrong shade of blues and greens, picking the lighter tones instead of the darker ones.



The wife likes to do this thing where she will try to make someone else responsible for the design decisions, so if something goes wrong, like should I recommend a dark teal to her, she will say...

"You think this will work? I think it looks great also, but if it doesn't work, then it's your fault ah? Hahaha."

... that "hahaha" at the end is really just her way of trying to not come across as a nightmare of a client, it's like a "I'm just kidding, but not really" kind of "hahaha",  and the thing is, I know my colour suggestion will work because I have looked at reference images online and the colour combinations works really really well, but she has this way of just constantly making me second guess my design decisions, so I always end up letting them do the colour selections themselves instead, so as to prevent myself from getting blamed by her for coming up with a design that she doesn't like. The husband is fine so far, he knows what he doesn't want, but that is also a huge reason why the colour scheme looks so dull and dated, because a lot of colours I recommended in the beginning were turned down by him.




Had the wife decided to just go with my design decision and not second guess me, using dark teal for the accent wall would have made the house looked modern, add a few gold accented decorative accessories like picture frames and the place would have looked amazing, Pinterest ready.




Their house needed dark accent colours to really make the space pop, but they kept choosing pastel colours and I know as their designer, I should have said something, but after making a single design decision for them once, and then getting blamed by the wife for not running through the design decision with them, a blame that almost cost me $500, no thanks. If you are going to get me as your Interior Designer, but then start to question the design decisions I have made for you and create so much issue for me and my contractor, you're on your own.



I may be biased against the project though, because of how much stress and anxiety both the project and my client has put me through, I have nothing but horrible memories of it and I really do not want to create any more new memories from it. I would like it to be done very very soon and one day look back and be glad that I am no longer an active part of it.



The project is coming to a close, with a few electrical works left and some minor touching up that needs to be done. My electrician has once again failed to show up at the time and date I had arranged for him to come, so yeah, not going to be engaging in his services ever again in the future.

---

So I was planning to have a nice day out with my friend today to watch a movie, thinking since my clients have already visited the house yesterday, they probably won't drop by again today and start disturbing me with text messages of...

"Why is this like that?"

"Can you redo this part?"

"My friend's house doesn't look like this, why this wall not smooth?"

... it's irritating as fuck and it can completely ruin my day, like it did a month ago when they started flooding me with text messages on my day off and the very rare day I was actually meeting up a friend for a movie, just constantly asking me so many questions, giving me so many problems to the point I started losing my appetite.



Well, I just receive a text message from the wife, telling me she will be dropping by the flat today to look for defects. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I can't have any peaceful day until this project is finally done.



Gawd I fucking hate this project.



They have informed me that they have stick the stickers in the problem areas around the house, I will be dropping by tomorrow to see the severity of their perfectionism, have a very bad feeling that a lot of non-defects will be marked out as well, as usual, really such a huge pain to deal with.

Le Peanuts

A few weeks ago, I decided to take things into my own hands and started calculating the amount of  profit I will be earning from the current projects that I am currently running or have completed but haven't gotten my commission yet.



So before doing the actual calculations by comparing the actual renovation bills send in by my contractor with the actual quotation, I was basing the profit margin on a very rough estimate, and they are as follow...



First Project - $40,000
Estimated to earn about $1,800 in commission.


Second Project - $37,000
Estimated to earn about $2,500 in commission.


Third Project - $34,000
Estimated to earn about $2,500 in commission.



.... evidently, after looking at the profit margin for the first project and comparing it to my other projects, I just did not really want to do that project anymore but somehow tried to convince myself that I would run it for the experience and also as a sign of appreciation for my customer who decided to give me a chance.

The experience so far has been abysmal because my clients are very indecisive and don't trust me enough to actually make design decisions for them, so there ends up being a lot of last minute changes and a lot of questionable taste in colour choices for their homes.



But back to the topic at hand.



So once the bills starting coming in from my contractors, I decided to tabulate the prices from the bill and then minus that amount from the total quotation, including all the additional cost my customers might have requested mid-reno, and the new figure was really surprising because it ended up being a lot higher that I had thought.



First Project.

Old Commission - $,1800
New Commission - $3,200



Second Project.

Old Commission - $2,500
New Commission - $4,500


Third Project.

Old Commission - $2,500
New Commission - $4,500




Upon seeing those new figures, I was shocked, because it is so much higher than my original calculations. And I have to admit, prior to this, I was contemplating leaving the company and finding a new career because the commission I was getting from my projects were way too low, and I also didn't want to find and run more projects than I can handle, so I really wasn't making enough money to justify staying in this line anymore, but the new figure proved otherwise, and I was so happy about it for weeks,




I was going about, telling my colleagues how much money I was making from the projects, even going so far as to share with my boss how much profit I was making, everyone I told were impressed with the amount and they told me I was earning at a very safe range, that I should keep it up, Seeing how much I was making, I started to become really lax with the cost of several additional services I required from my contractors because what is making a hundred bucks less when I am making $3,200 and not the original $1,800 I had anticipated.




Well, fast forward to today, I decided to go check the new bills that had arrived and chanced upon this little thing called GST that was being charged by one of my suppliers, and in that instant, everything started to fall apart.




I quickly went back to the calculation and realized I had totally forgotten to exclude the GST amount in the original quotation figure when I was calculating my profit margin figure weeks ago, that means I had calculated an additional $2,000 to $3,000 for all my projects that was never supposed to be calculated and that means I did not earn more than I had anticipated at all, my profit margin has remained the same, I am still earning peanuts.

Just when I thought I was going to be receiving a profit margin of at least $10,000 by the end of the year, it turns out I had just miscalculated and I would end up only be raking in about less than $7,000 total if I don't incur any additional cost.




Earning only $7000 in 12 months is an extremely dangerous amount and I am now honestly starting to worry about the sustainability of this career. I mean I have worried about it in the past, but looking at the actual figure, it is really really depressing, and when I think of the amount of stress I have had to endure for the $1,800 project, the amount of stress my customer has given to me, and I am only earning a measly $1,800 from them, I should have my name legally changed to Sharity and be legally recognized as a pink fucking elephant.




Update :

So I just realized that I have miscalculated my earnings for my third project by a lot. In the beginning, I thought I was going to earn at least $2,500, but then a bill for the project came in and I found out I had completely forgotten to include that into my costings, an additional $2,500 costing.


Right now, this third project is the project with the lowest profit margin I have ever had, so much more lower than my small kitchen renovation project, only a meager $1000, that is insane. I cannot believe I was able to miscalculate by such a huge margin and thought that I would be earning the most from that project.


That means my total earnings from this 3 project is roughly only $5500, I'm a fucking idiot. The miscalculated $4,500 profit suddenly feels like a huge joke to me now.