Out of all the projects that have been completed which I have yet to collect my commission, Sly Fox's project carries the largest amount, and my plan from the start was to close all the smaller projects with Sly Fox's project so my overall check will be a substantial amount, but because of this ongoing issue with his site, I doubt I will be able to see my commission until next year.
I am now trying to just ignore the commission I will be getting from that project and just treat the potential messages from him as a weekly annoyances which I will then revert to the contractor who is responsible for the shit show that's causing me all this headache, and when the problem is finally fix then I will view that commission as like money that I have deposited into a bank and forgotten about, the bank being my company's account department. Sly Fox isn't being unreasonable for now, in fact he has been really cordial throughout this shitty situation, and I am not really in dire need for money, so I really don't care if I can't get my money soon.
I know his wife is extremely unhappy about this issue, she is just not vocal about it in the chat, she is actually really calm about it in the group chat but Sly Fox is probably bearing the grunt of her displeasure. I'm just worried about the eventual emotional explosion from Sly Fox when he can finally no longer stand her complaints about the issue and starts directing all the pent up frustration towards me, if the issue keeps persisting like a fucking cockroach that won't fucking die.
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I also met that "rude customer" I blogged about previously not too long ago and it turns out he is actually a pretty nice guy. Being an older gentlemen, I guess he has that impatiences that a lot of individuals his age exhibit, but the main thing is he wasn't really all that unpleasant in person as he was on the phone.
I met him twice since then, first time was with him and his wife, and the second time was with him, his wife, his son and his daughter in law.
The whole dynamic of how this renovation is happening is just really odd, because most of the time when someone wants to renovate their space and is looking for a designer, they will meet the designer personally and try and create a rapport with the designer to see if it is a good match, but this time, every decision that is being made, every exchange I have had to do with regards to the quotation and the space planning proposal , it has been done through proxy via the Dad, that "rude customer".
The second meeting I had with them was really really uncomfortable because even though the son is the one who is forking out the renovation money, he was just really disinterested during the meeting, the Dad is the one who doing all the talking and decision making, every once in a while, his daughter in law will chime in and share what she wants to do and the Mum would also ask me some questions now and then, but the son is just completely disengaged from the conversations.
When I am explaining certain renovation procedures to them and advising them on the space planning, I will make sure to make eye contact with all of them so as to not make anyone feel like they are not involved in the conversation, and every time I make eye contact with the son, he will just smile out of courtesy but never have any sort of feedback, and when I am done talking and am looking at his general direction to observe him for any sort of reaction, he will just look down on the floor or just look away from where his parents and wife is, to try and distant himself from the conversation as much as possible.
He is suppose to be my main point of contact because he is the homeowner and the one forking out the renovation fee, if any issue should arise during the renovation, he should be the one I am talking to, but he just doesn't seem interested at all and his Dad is doing all the talking and bargaining.
I know his Dad wants to engage me because at the end of the meeting, he just said to his Son...
... like everything has been confirmed and it's just a matter of when the renovation despite the lack of a contract confirmation, after which he also tried to bargain for a lower price and the entire time, his son is just at one corner, completely uninterested in the conversation, and when his Dad ask him if the final amount is okay, he just goes...
... in this rather annoyed tone directed towards his Dad, which I can sort of relate to because I also kinda do this to my parents as well sometimes, so I know that slight hostility he is exhibiting isn't directed towards me
I was so tempted to ask them to go home and really think about it first before letting me know because the Son just doesn't seem interested and I personally really do not like working with a customer who isn't all in, much less one who just looks completely uninterested, but I kept my mouth shut and I continued to talk a bit more with the Dad.
Finally the meeting ends and I say my goodbyes to them, made our separate ways, but then somehow, I ended up running into the Son and his wife at a junction. I really wanted to pretend I did not see them and just stand far away from them, but then I thought to myself...
.... and with that thought in mind, I walk up to them and greeted them. I ask the son if he was really comfortable with my renovation fees and he told me he was, he was a little more friendly without his parents around but still a little distant, and then I decided to ask them about their style preferences but soon ran out of the topics to talk about really quickly and then the 3 of us just stood there really awkwardly in silence as we waited for the traffic lights to turn red so we can cross the street.
It felt really really long, and during that awkward silence, I was just lamenting about the fact that I had to let my extroverted side take charge and start a conversation with them when I could have just pretended I did not notice them.
Up to now, the Father is still the one who is liaising with me and making all the decision, the whole dynamic is just really off. I wish I didn't have to meet the Son at all, would have been great is the Father had just told me that his son won't be involved in the renovation at all so at least I won't have to feel obligated to actually engage with the Son before and during the renovation.
I met him twice since then, first time was with him and his wife, and the second time was with him, his wife, his son and his daughter in law.
The whole dynamic of how this renovation is happening is just really odd, because most of the time when someone wants to renovate their space and is looking for a designer, they will meet the designer personally and try and create a rapport with the designer to see if it is a good match, but this time, every decision that is being made, every exchange I have had to do with regards to the quotation and the space planning proposal , it has been done through proxy via the Dad, that "rude customer".
The second meeting I had with them was really really uncomfortable because even though the son is the one who is forking out the renovation money, he was just really disinterested during the meeting, the Dad is the one who doing all the talking and decision making, every once in a while, his daughter in law will chime in and share what she wants to do and the Mum would also ask me some questions now and then, but the son is just completely disengaged from the conversations.
When I am explaining certain renovation procedures to them and advising them on the space planning, I will make sure to make eye contact with all of them so as to not make anyone feel like they are not involved in the conversation, and every time I make eye contact with the son, he will just smile out of courtesy but never have any sort of feedback, and when I am done talking and am looking at his general direction to observe him for any sort of reaction, he will just look down on the floor or just look away from where his parents and wife is, to try and distant himself from the conversation as much as possible.
He is suppose to be my main point of contact because he is the homeowner and the one forking out the renovation fee, if any issue should arise during the renovation, he should be the one I am talking to, but he just doesn't seem interested at all and his Dad is doing all the talking and bargaining.
I know his Dad wants to engage me because at the end of the meeting, he just said to his Son...
"Okay, so just let Tim know when you want to start the renovation."
... like everything has been confirmed and it's just a matter of when the renovation despite the lack of a contract confirmation, after which he also tried to bargain for a lower price and the entire time, his son is just at one corner, completely uninterested in the conversation, and when his Dad ask him if the final amount is okay, he just goes...
"Yar, Yar, Okay, Okay."
... in this rather annoyed tone directed towards his Dad, which I can sort of relate to because I also kinda do this to my parents as well sometimes, so I know that slight hostility he is exhibiting isn't directed towards me
I was so tempted to ask them to go home and really think about it first before letting me know because the Son just doesn't seem interested and I personally really do not like working with a customer who isn't all in, much less one who just looks completely uninterested, but I kept my mouth shut and I continued to talk a bit more with the Dad.
Finally the meeting ends and I say my goodbyes to them, made our separate ways, but then somehow, I ended up running into the Son and his wife at a junction. I really wanted to pretend I did not see them and just stand far away from them, but then I thought to myself...
"I'm very likely going to be running their project, so I should really try and make the effort to make them feel comfortable around me."
.... and with that thought in mind, I walk up to them and greeted them. I ask the son if he was really comfortable with my renovation fees and he told me he was, he was a little more friendly without his parents around but still a little distant, and then I decided to ask them about their style preferences but soon ran out of the topics to talk about really quickly and then the 3 of us just stood there really awkwardly in silence as we waited for the traffic lights to turn red so we can cross the street.
It felt really really long, and during that awkward silence, I was just lamenting about the fact that I had to let my extroverted side take charge and start a conversation with them when I could have just pretended I did not notice them.
Up to now, the Father is still the one who is liaising with me and making all the decision, the whole dynamic is just really off. I wish I didn't have to meet the Son at all, would have been great is the Father had just told me that his son won't be involved in the renovation at all so at least I won't have to feel obligated to actually engage with the Son before and during the renovation.
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A few days ago, a customer I met once probably about a month ago suddenly reached out to me asking me if he could start a group chat with me and his wife to discuss about some minor changes they wanted to do to their renovation requirements.
I remember this couple pretty well because they wanted to do a Moroccan themed home. It is not really a common theme that customers who walk into my company request, so I was really interested to actually explore the idea of doing a Moroccan inspired space.
Unfortunately, during the actual consultation, I realize that the budget this customer and his wife had really wasn't realistic, and I imagine that as soon as I send them the quotation, they will probably turn tail and run away.
To my surprise, the final figure itself was actually not as high as I expected, but I honestly didn't put a lot of hope in them as being potential customers for some reason, so as soon as the husband texted me back to thank me for my time, I soon forgot about them and eventually decided to delete his number and messages from my phone after 2 weeks of silence.
I did do a 3D Sketch Up based on their requirements, but it wasn't really so much for them as it was for myself, I really went to town with the designs and space planning and was quite impressed with what I came up with, being able to actually come up with a design proposal without any budget restriction was quite liberating and I was actually planning to render the 3D when I had the time, so I could to add it to my online portfolio, but I got lazy and it was soon forgotten as well.
But anyway, the husband texted me and ask me if it would be okay to start a group chat, so I agreed and he proceeded to start a group chat, and the first thing he wrote was simply...
"Hi Tim, I have started this group chat so my wife and I can discuss the changes we have in mind with you. "
.... so I gave acknowledge his request with a thumbs up emoji and was expecting his wife to start typing out the changes they have in mind. There was no typing.
I was under the impression that they were probably a little turn off at my nonchalant response to their initial request, because instead of requesting for them to share the changes they have with me, I just replied with a thumbs up emoji, so I send them a text requesting for the changes they want made.
That message was marked as read by both parties, but there is no respond.
I really don't get what's the point in inviting me into a group chat with the intention to discuss about the renovation, but then keeping silent and leaving me hanging after I ask them to update me of the changes, it's really bugging me how inactive the chat is, if the chat remains inactive after 2 weeks, I'm just going to leave the group and if they leave the group chat first, well, I will leave my response to that once they actually do, because maybe they are still in the midst of consolidating the changes, maybe, although I am leaning heavily towards them having waste my time and putting my hopes up.
I think that they are actually no longer interested in my services, but just feel bad about leaving the group mere days after they have created it, so they are just ignoring my message and waiting for me to leave the group chat first so they won't look like a huge waste of my time, because if they were consolidating the changes, they should have at least acknowledged my message.
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