The New York trip is too expensive for it be to be ruined by a client, I already hate it when they message me while I am at home, I can only imagine how much worst it will feel when I am halfway around the globe and am unable to be present physically at the job site to really assess the situation because a lot of times, my clients tend to exaggerate the issues by taking really close up shots of the problem area and making it look worst than it really is.
Well, not too long ago, my boss hired a few new faces for the in-house team and among them is a new HR Personnel, she isn't aware of my request, so she actually directed some leads to me, being kinda bored at that time, I decided to just accept those leads and see what happens. If the customer plans to start his renovation during my New York trip, then I will just not put too much effort into the proposals and turn down their project, but if they plan to start their renovation only in June, then good for me, that means I will have be able to keep myself busy with work when I am back from New York.
A few days ago, the new HR gave me a lead and the customer had originally requested to meet during an event that my company will be having next week, in his message to my HR, he requested for the designer, which is me, to get in touch with him so he can share his renovation enquiry with me ,hoping that then at least I will have some sort of proposal for him to see during the event. I messaged him probably an hour after I receive the request from my HR and he responded pretty quickly.
His request was pretty vague, all he told me was he wanted to renovate his whole house, shift his kitchen entrance, do up a new space for his kids, and that was literally it, I have no idea where he wants to shift his kitchen entrance to, I have no idea how big of a space he wants to create for his kids, so I told him I will just come up with a proposal that will cover the basics that he will definitely need, so things like Kitchen Cabinet and Wardrobes, because he has a very very tight budget and it doesn't make sense to propose things that he won't need or present him with ideas that are purely for aesthetic purposes, it is very clear from his meager budget that he is not someone who is going to pay for design.
He wasn't very receptive to the idea of getting a cookie cutter proposal from me, so he requested for us to meet up first in person first for me to really understand what he wanted to do exactly. I was pretty free and had nothing much to do these days anyways, so I agreed and we met yesterday.
Well, it rained like a bitch yesterday evening, I only had about half an hour before I was planning to head out when the rain started, and as it started getting closer to the meeting time, I was really hoping the weather would get better, or at least stay the way it is because even though it was raining, it wasn't really too heavy, it's the type that people would still be willing to brave, but then my client suddenly messages me and tells me he wants to postpone the meeting back by half an hour, literally as I got up from my chair at home and was about to head out, he told me his side was raining really heavily so he wanted to head home for a quick shower and dry up first before meeting me, I wasn't too keen on that idea because the rain was going from bad to worst, but he is the customer, so I agreed to his request begrudgingly and was hoping that some miracle would happen and the rain will get better.
It didn't.
By the time I had to leave, the rain got worst, it was extremely bad, the rain was so heavy that I could barely make out the building that was across from my home, I really wanted to cancel the appointment because of how heavy the rain was but I couldn't because that's just not really professional.
Well, the current shoes that I wear on a daily basis has pretty much gone to shit over the past few months, I guess there is a hole under the shoe, so every time I walk on a wet surface, if there is a little puddle on said surface, it will seep through the soles of my shoes and my feet will get wet almost immediately, that is when there isn't rain, but because it was raining like a fucking bitch yesterday, the short trip I had to make from my house to the bus stop completely drenched my shoes, every step I took was so uncomfortable because my soles were completely soaked and there was this splotching sensation between my feet and the sole of my shoe that felt like I was really marinating it for maximum stench.
Well, the current shoes that I wear on a daily basis has pretty much gone to shit over the past few months, I guess there is a hole under the shoe, so every time I walk on a wet surface, if there is a little puddle on said surface, it will seep through the soles of my shoes and my feet will get wet almost immediately, that is when there isn't rain, but because it was raining like a fucking bitch yesterday, the short trip I had to make from my house to the bus stop completely drenched my shoes, every step I took was so uncomfortable because my soles were completely soaked and there was this splotching sensation between my feet and the sole of my shoe that felt like I was really marinating it for maximum stench.
The bus ride and the train ride was an ordeal because of how uncomfortable and wet my feet were, I tried to minimize any movement in the feet area and when I actually had to walk, I would just curse at my client for arranging the meeting.
By the time I reach the meeting place, it was around 7pm, my client told me he wanted to meet at McDonalds and I knew it was going to be packed, so I was really not expecting to find any seats and true enough, when I walked into the place, it was completely full, every table was taken, there were long queues forming at the counters and in my head, I was just wondering what the fuck my client was thinking proposing, meeting at McDonalds' during peak hour.
I didn't really bother trying to get seats because I didn't want to hover around a table and wait for people to finish up and leave, my client should be doing this because he was the one who requested the meet up and he was the one who decided on the location and the timing, the whole reason he wanted to meet where he requested was because he lived close by, so he owes me that much to look for a table first. I did a quick walk through of McDonald, then made my way out and just sat at one of the waiting areas outside and messaged my client telling him there wasn't any available seating, thinking he might change the venue to a less crowded area, but he messages me back within a few seconds and tells me he is already inside, that he has already found a seat and is waiting for me.
Apparently I missed him when I did my breeze walk through the fast food outlet because he was literally 2 tables away from the entrance. I quickly introduced myself to him and he didn't really seem all that impressed, so I took out the floor plan he had emailed me and as I was about to start the consultation with him in the crowded restaurant, he goes....
"Oh, so you didn't prepare anything?"
... I was a little confused by what he meant "didn't prepare anything", so I just looked at him for clarification on what he meant because I did print out the floorplan that I had to clean up with Photoshop and scale to size with Illustrator, so I'm pretty sure I did "something" or at least did enough for a first time consultation session, and he goes...
" I thought you would have prepared some sort of proposal to run through with me."
... and it was the way he said it that just pissed me the off, that hint of disappoint he had in his voice like I have been inadequate, the courtesy smile I always put on when I meet a new client just completely disappeared from my face. When he said that to me, I got really pissed off, I braved the fucking rain to meet you at a location that is convenient for you, my bag is wet, my shoes are soaked, and you have the fucking gull to expect so much more than you, a NON-PAYING CUSTOMER, deserves, the fucking entitlement, what fucking rights do you have to be disappointed that I did not arrange a proposal in advance, this is a FREE service, manage your fucking expectations.
I was really controlling myself to not sound angry when I explained to him that the whole point of this meeting we were having today is to get his requirements, I mean the whole fucking point of HIM requesting to meet in advance is for me to get his requirements first, if he was expecting me to prepare a proposal for him before we even meet, then we could have done that during the event, but HE didn't want a cookie cutter proposal, he wanted a proposal that met his requirements, and I can't prepare a proposal for him if I don't have his renovation requirements.
I mean what the fuck was he expecting, for me to put in 1000% effort into a proposal for a random client who has not even given me a single cent? Being a non-paying customer aside, he has set aside a budget that is impossible to work with, the automatic reaction a lot of designers will probably have would be to just ignore his enquiry, so the fact that I even bother to reach out to you is already a favor and be fucking grateful that I went as far as agreeing to meet in person.
He was not impressed when I explained to him why I didn't have a proposal and the first half of the consultation was pretty painful for me because he was questioning everything I was proposing to him with this fucking know it all attitude, asking me question like....
1. What kind of wood does my carpenter use.
2. Why my price is so expensive.
3. Why is the carpentry so expensive when they are only using wood.
... and when I share with him what I know, he tries to insert what he knows about the product, as if trying to usurp me or impress me with his knowledge, like I am suppose to go...
'WHAT? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? THAT IS SOMETHING ONLY PEOPLE WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY KNOWS! HOLY FUCK YOUR EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE IN ALL THIS IS MAKING ME HARD, I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES, FUCK ME NOW!"
....shut the fuck up!
One conversation that we had revolved around the quartz table top, and it went like this...
Him : So what Quartz brand do you use?
Me : I will be using XX Brand.
Him : Ah I see, okay, as long as it is not YY Brand, and how much do you charge for it?
Me : It starts at $130 per foot run
Him : What? Shouldn't it be $100 per foot run?
Me : No?! Where did you get that number from?
Him : I just thought it should be $100 per foot run
Me: No, if you go to the shop and purchase it directly from the supplier, it is going to set you back $150 per foot run, I am selling you at a lower rate!
... and then he keeps quiet, so I tried to confront him and ask him where he got the price from and he just kept telling me he "thought" it was suppose to be cheaper.
You thought, you thought, it's fucking idiots like this who start going on online forums and sharing their "thoughts" that makes things difficult for us Interior Designer, bloody misinformed individuals passing off assumptions as truth and scaring other homeowners into thinking that every Interior Designer out there is out to cheat their money.
Oh, and early on during the consultation, I did actually show him a rough space planning proposal for his bedroom which I thought was not bad, the layout of the bedroom was really weird because the walls were at different angles, so it took me a good hour to come up with the space planning when I was at home looking at his floorplan, and well, he thought it was not impressive and then wanted me to come up with a new one on the spot for him.
That is why I did not prepare a full proposal for him in the first place, what took me an hour to come up with for his bedroom gets rejected not even a minute after it was presented to him, so why the fuck should I waste my time.
After the consultation, we had a small chat and he shared with me that he has visited a few firms, shared those experiences with me and the more I hear him talk, the more I don't want to take on his project because he just sounded really unpleasant to work with.
I will be meeting him again during the event, unfortunately, and I am hoping he will remain unimpressed with my proposal, I am expecting the renovation cost alone to be enough to scare him away because it is more than double of his original budget and really, my goal at the end of the day is simply to NOT take on his project.
I find it funny how he has this mentality that I really want his project, that I am going have to really impress him if I want him to pick me to run the renovation for him when the truth is just the opposite, my goal is to be so unimpressive that he crosses me off the list, OR to impress him so much that he picks me, but then for me to turn him down because...
BITCH, I DON'T WANT TO TAKE YOUR FUCKING PROJECT!
