Bitchoso!

I got really sick yesterday, so I had to take a break from work today. Haven't gotten sick in a really long time and I have almost forgotten how shitty it is to be sick.



I was still fine in the morning, was still able to go to a site meeting with my client, had a beef bowl at Yoshina for lunch after the site meeting, but the moment I came home, my body start heating up, my whole body started to ache and my throat started to really hurt. I collapsed on my bed at 8.00pm, attempted to sleep but couldn't because I was aching everywhere, my body couldn't decide if it was too cold or too warm, my nose was constantly blocked, I had a fucking headache the entire night and a truckload of phlegm in my throat.



I also had this weird imagery of my body being separated into different patches, and this is going to sound really weird because I was half awake the entire time.



So my body had different patches, like it was split up into different continents on a map, and every time I felt too cold over one patch of my body, maybe at my knee area, I would imagine that patch of body purchasing a bunch of blankets or something to cover that area up to make it feel warm again, and then when another patch of my body feels cold, I would imagine that patch purchasing a bunch of blankets to make that area feel warm again, and then the warmth would be temporary, so they will purchase get new blankets to make it feel warm again, it was really weird, like the different parts of my body felt almost disconnected to each other.



I was struggling to fall asleep because of how uncomfortable I was the entire night, but I did eventually fall asleep and thankfully, woke up not feeling like shit anymore. I still had a sore throat but at least I wasn't having a fever anymore, but still decided not to go to work because I was feeling very lethargic.




Anyways, I recently came across a blog online while I was doing some random google search on my own company, and I chanced upon this particular blogger who was blogging about her renovation journey.



The post I came across, because I had googled my own company out of boredom one day, was a post dedicated to her search for an Interior Designer for her home, it was probably written late last year and apparently, she visited 15 different Interior Design firms and one of them was my company.



15 Interior Design firms, that is insane, whenever I ask my own customers how many firms they have visited, they would tell me...

"We went to about 4 to 6 firms."

and some would even tell me...

"We only visited your design firm, we are a bit too lazy to go search for others, we read good reviews online, so we came."

... and anytime I share with them the idea of visiting upwards to 10 different firms, most of them would have the same response, which would be...

"That is crazy, we don't have the time nor the energy to shortlist so many different firms, it's very tiring."

So, yeah, the blogger apparently visited 15 different design firms, spread out across a 2 week span, and one of the firm happened to be my company, and when she was writing about my company and the designer she met with, I vaguely remembered seeing her in my company's showroom. She talks about how the designer from my company was great, but the design proposal wasn't what she wanted, so she didn't pick him, and then goes on to share with her readers her final decision, which was an Interior Design firm that had zero customer reviews online, but had a plethora of online articles showcasing their works.



So being the excited new homeowner that she was, she giddily wrote about how she was confident she had made the right decision and spoiler alert, it wasn't the right decision.




When I came across her blog, she had already started her renovation and apparently, it had been going on for way longer than she had anticipated, so on her freshest post, it was a post that was dedicated to lambasting the interior design firm.



I don't really know exactly what happened prior to the renovation that caused such a disdain between her and her Interior Designer, but the post starts off with her sharing screenshots of a whatsapp conversation she and her husband were having with the interior designer, and it was regarding the defect checks, and this was supposedly the third or fourth round of defects rectification.




Apparently she had send a bunch of photos of the many defects the house had and then the Interior Designers response was simply...

"Are there anymore to add to the list? Let me know the finalize list of defects tomorrow so I can arrange for the workers to drop by."

... a completely normal response, we would prefer to have the full list of defects so we can settle everything at one go, but for some reason, that totally normal response triggered the client and she wrote this composition length reply, calling out the designer for not doing his job, questioning him on his lack of initiative to spot the defects for them, and then go on about how even her friends and family find the workmanship of renovation to be really bad.



So the designer calls the client out for being unfair to him and I don't really have anything to add here because apparently, the rectification work has been going on for a long time, is the client being too anal or is the designer being too nonchalant, I don't know, but the exchange goes on for quite a while and eventually, the designer's response was...

"No point explaining to you anymore."

... when the client asks him why he thinks she is being unfair to him, which I thought was hilarious because that client must have been a hot topic for the company, they were probably referred to as the clients from hell, no way the designer isn't going to bitch about them to his colleagues, I know my colleagues and I do that all the time just to let off steam because we can't say it to our clients' faces.



So essentially, the post ends with the client calling the interior designer out for his "defensive replies", among many other cons, and from reading through the text messages between the client and the designer, I honestly didn't sense any sort of defensive reply the client was talking about, all the hostility was coming from the client, the designer was simply requesting for a full list of defects and as well as more time to complete the defects.


Imagine writing to a person...

"Hey, can you give me the list of items I need to get from the supermarket?"

and then be responded with....

"The list? The list is on the fridge, why didn't you take it with you before you left the house? You are a full grown adult, this isn't the first time you have gone to the supermarket yourself to get groceries.  I wrote the full list of items down once and now you want me to write them for you again? I just told Mum that you forgot to bring the list with you and you know what ? She was so disappointed at how forgetful you are, even Ah Pa is shaking his head right now, please have some sense of responsibility next time."

I can totally understand why the designer replied "no point explaining to you anymore", he must have been fuming and exhuausted from being unable to express his annoyance towards the clients.




And then in the next post, she shares more text conversation between her husband and the designer, the husband was pissed as well and the text he wrote were definitely filled with a lot of hostility.  Although I have to side with the client on this because it seems as though the designer definitely did commit some mistake and the clients were clearly unhappy about it. I am not exactly sure what happened because it was a lot of words and no pictures for better understanding so yeah.

Boo! Bad Designer, Bad Bad Designer.

Well, the third post about the Interior Designer is when it becomes crystal clear that the client is now being extremely bias towards the him.



The post subheading is....

"More from the ridiculous ID"

... and I thought...

"Wow, what did the ID do to piss off the clients again?"

The contractors forgot to peel off the protection sticker from the window panels.


You know that little film you have on your new phone that you would normally peel off before you power it up, imagine that on the window.


Contractor forgot to peel it off, hey, not too hard to peel it off myself right?


Apparently not because the client made such a big deal about it, messaged the interior designer, asking him why the protection stickers were still on, and when the designer responded with...

"It is meant to protect the powder coating on the frame during the renovation, I will get my side to peel it off for you this coming weekend."

... she called that reply defensive.

What are you talking about? What is defensive about his reply, he was simply explaining why the sticker was there, sure his contractor forgot to peel it off but there is no need to dedicate an entire post to blast him because of it, you have a pair of hands, you can do it yourself. 

The fact that the designer has to send a contractor down over the weekend just to peel off the stickers for her, a simple task she could do herself in probably 10 minutes,  I mean that is really quite ridiculous, and then she calls the designer out for his lack of apology, which is kinda weak because after she responds back to his reply with a chunky message, which was literally her going...

"Why you never peel off? Why do you need me to bring it up to you before you send someone to peel off? The sticker on my window look very ugly, if the sticker was meant to stay on, then I wouldn't have to pick a powder coat for my frame in the first place."

... he apologized.

Because she was fucking crazy, and she calls that response a rebuttal, no bitch, that is not a rebuttal, that is you being loco crazy, and she ends her post with...

"Why so defensive?"

BITCH, the designer isn't being defensive about anything, what the fuck are you on about? She is like fucking delusional, everything the designer writes, she just automatically assumes it is said in a defensive tone, he could literally be quoting a play by William Shakespeare and she'd be...

"Wow, why are you so defensive? Stop being so defensive."

Well, from her latest post, it seems as though she is about to get into a legal battle with the Interior Design Company because she is not willing to pay the last payment, which I guess is in her rights because she deems the house to still be full of defects, but they are mainly planning to sue her for sullying the company's name with her blog post. 

It would be interesting to see how the whole fiasco develops, but I think she is a bit crazy, I mean her first two post lambasting the designer had some sort of validation to it, but the third one kinda felt like she was grasping at straws. 

It's like me going ape shit crazy at a server in a high class restaurant because he didn't lay a napkin on my lap.

So my fault is it?

I was recently referred to a customer by one of my existing client and as much as I appreciate referrals, getting referred isn't always a great thing.



As someone who picks customers very stringently, getting a customer who was referred by another client can sometimes make turning that customer down rather difficult if they end up being a potential pain in the ass to deal with.



Well, not too long ago, my client decided to refer me to his sister, and prior to me actually meeting the sister, whom I shall refer to as Kyla, my client briefly told me that Kyla wasn't interested to do a lot of renovation works, she only wanted to do a little false ceiling and that was it.


I wasn't too interested upon hearing that, so I told him rather bluntly that if she wanted to do just the false ceiling, she should contact a contractor directly instead because that is going to save her a lot of money and also because the amount of commission I will earn from the project is honestly just not worth my time, it will probably only be able to cover my transport cost with some spare change, that is how much commission I will be able to earn.



Well, I don't really know what my client relayed back to Kyla, but she texted me weeks later, introducing herself to me and requested for a quote for the false ceiling works. I wasn't really keen to have anything to do with her renovation, but because she was my client's sister, I told her I will prepare one for her within the week and send it to her out of an obligation to my client.



I procrastinated and didn't bother to actually do the quote until she rushed me for it about a week later, so I rush one out really quickly, did a huge mark up for the false ceiling works and then send it her way, hoping it will scare her off, and I thought that was going to be the last time I ever hear from her again, but I guess she thought the price was reasonable and requested for me to quote her for additional carpentry works as well, she didn't request to meet up at first, she simply wanted a quote, so she told me she will collate the requirements and send it to me in the evening, but then quickly changes her mind, requested for a meet up and told me...

"I would like a 3D drawing, the same one you prepared for my brother."

... and that nonchalant request from her really pissed me off.

You don't just ask for a 3D model from me, it's not a free service that you can simply request, when I prepare a free 3D model for my customers, it is an extra service that I provide out of goodwill, not out of an obligation. People outside can pay upwards to a hundred dollars per 3D renders, and she wanted me to prepare a 3D model for her, a model that can churn out at least 4 to 5 different angles, which would mean the market rate for that request would actually cost her at least $300. 

So I explain to her that I don't just do 3D model for any Tom, Dick & Kyla,  you don't just ask for it and expect it to be prepared for you for free, she got disappointed but confirmed a date and time with me for our meet up anyways and I was quite bumped out when she still decided to come for a consultation because I really wasn't interested in her project.

Fast forward to today, the day we were scheduled to meet. We had agreed to meet at 4.30pm, and since I didn't have to report to the Showroom in the morning, I was planning to leave home at around 3.00pm and only reach the Showroom at 4.00pm, since it would take me an hour by public transport.



At around 2pm, I receive a text from Kyla asking me where the showroom was located, I shared with her the address and she replied with...

"Okay, will let you know when I am reaching, will probably reach at around 3pm plus."

... Huh? We had already agreed to meet at 4.30pm, what the fuck are you talking about? She doesn't even bother to ask me if I will be available at an earlier timing, she just assumes my whole day has been dedicated to meeting her, so I quickly pack up my stuff and rush to the office.

I manage to reach the office a little before 3.00pm, printed out the quotation and floorplan and waited for her, at around 3.15pm, she messaged me telling me she was on her way, so I waited and waited. At 3.45pm, I was still fucking waiting.

It wasn't only until 4.15pm did she finally arrive with her fiance, I was honestly quite pissed off at their tardiness, she told me she will be reaching at 3 plus, made me rush from home and then make me wait an hour, strolling in casually at 4.15pm without apologizing for being late, but I couldn't call them out for it, so I ushered them to my table and got right down to the consultation.

"She doesn't plan to do a lot, just simple false ceiling that's all."

.... that's what her brother shared with me weeks ago when he told me his sister was going to get her own apartment, I assume that means she isn't planning to spend a lot of money on the renovation, so that means I should only be recommending the basic necessities. The problem is, their apartment is an Executive Condominium, that means all the necessities have already been provided by the developer, the kitchen has been fully done up, the toilets are done and wardrobes are done, I honestly didn't know what else they needed that they couldn't buy off the shelve, so I just ask them...

"Do you guys have any idea what you want added to the space."

.... thinking they might have some inkling, they told me they wanted storage space, maybe a TV console and then when I ask them if they wanted to do any carpentry for the room, they weren't very receptive to the idea, they even decided to scrap off the false ceiling works for all the bedrooms and only do the living room, which brought the total contract amount to "way too fucking low for me to even pay any attention to", thinking that since they weren't too keen on the idea of doing any carpentry for their rooms, I decided to end the consultation after 20 minutes and ran through the final requirements with them, to which the fiance suddenly goes...

"Actually, based on the requirements that we have shared with you, it feels a little pointless to even have this consultation, as a designer, shouldn't it be your job to propose ideas to us for us to maximize the space. We would be willing to pay more if we like the proposed idea." *paraphrased, he wasn't very direct about it, but this is the equivalent of what he meant*

... I wanted to karate chop him in the fucking neck when he said that to me. I fucking hate it when a customer comes to me with a floorpplan and then tells me...

"Propose a design to me"

... without sharing their requirements. Everyone has a different lifestyle, so everyone will have different needs, you don't just go into an Interior Design firm, throw an empty floorplan at a designer and then ask the designer to propose a design for you, do some fucking homework, plan how you want to use the rooms BEFORE you meet the designers, or at least have an idea. 

Customer A might want to use the additional bedroom as a kids room, but Customer B doesn't plan to have kids and wants to convert the bedroom into a study room, Customer C on the other hand might want more wardrobe space, so he or she might request to convert it into a wardrobe.

We can advise you on how you can best utilize the space as a study room, as a bedroom, as a room dedicated to just being a wardrobe etc, sometimes if we think that the space is not ideal for those functions, we can advise you against it and explore other options, but don't come to us without any fucking idea, and then try to "call us out" for not doing our jobs when you are the one who didn't do the fucking homework.

And what fucking grates me is the fact that they were the ones who were not planning to do much, her brother told me she didn't want to do much, when I ask her, she said she doesn't want to do much,  so it's not that I do not want to propose, I am just respecting your fucking requirement to not do too much built-in carpentry work because all the "must-haves" have already been supplied by the developer, anything else that I propose will just be "wants", not "needs" and if you are not planning to do much and spend much, trying to propose the "wants" just seems redundant.

And another thing is, when I ask them what their budget was, Kyla told me it was between $12k - $15k, and her words were....

"The highest I will be willing to go is $15,000."

... if you are willing to pay, then tell me from the start you are willing to pay for design, don't have one party give me a $15,000 budget limit one minute and then the other tell me he is willing to pay more, make up your mind and stop contradicting one another.

But anyways, after he calls me out for me wasting their time, I decided to just start proposing the carpentry ideas to them, no fucking surprise, Kyla wasn't big on the idea, she didn't want to spend money doing built-in furniture, the whole consultation just felt like a huge waste of everybody's time, and in the end, the new requirements was almost identical to the original requirements, with the addition of a bed frame that they were also clearly not interested in, but I decided to add in just so that whole discussion didn't feel like it was all for naught, though it was really all for naught though.

Yeah, so it's not really difficult to guess at this point that I do not like them and have zero interest in their project at this point. With her brother and his wife, what was different was that they didn't have a budget, they were open to ideas and they were willing to pay for the ideas, they shared that sentiment with me right from the start, so that gave me a lot of creative freedom to design as well as to propose the space planning for them.

So if Kyla and her fiance thinks that the consultation was a waste of time, well.....

... and the feeling is mutual, I also felt like my time was wasted, they really should have managed their expectations, if not planning to do much, don't look for an Interior Designer, go to fucking IKEA or some shit.

I have since prepared a second quote and emailed it them, but I really can't be bothered to reach out to them beyond that email, I just do not wish to deal with the two of them. 

Mine is more expensive.

I recently met up with a young couple who wanted to renovate a relatively big house they had bought, and like all the young couples I have met since I started working in the company, they don't have a very generous budget.



The amount they shared with me isn't unachievablely low and when they shared their renovation requirements with me, I can tell that they were only opting for the necessary items.  I have spoken to clueless customers who have no idea exactly just how far their dollar can stretch before, so I know this couple doesn't share that type of delusions.


That being said, the one thing that really stuck with me during the first consultation with them was the requirement the husband had...

"The budget cannot exceed $60k."

... $60k sounds like a huge amount for renovation works, and it is, but the unit they wanted to renovate is an Executive Apartment, it is by no means small, and even though the requirements they shared with me were basic, the basics don't come cheap for them for an apartment that size. He was very adamant about it, so I took note of that budget but also informed him that based on the size of his house, my quote will more than likely exceed his initial budget. He kept joking that he no longer had anymore money, and kept reiterating that the renovation mustn't exceed $60k, and honestly at that point, the whole thing just felt like a waste of time.




It's the same as a customer walking into a Chanel store to get a Chanel item, but then only have the budget to get afford a Louis Vuitton.
(I did my research and Chanel apparently cost more, so there is that analogy)



Seeing how they were really friendly during our consultation and despite knowing that they will most likely not be coming back to me again for a second consultation, I decided to calculate a quotation for them out of goodwill*.



*I know that Interior Design firms all offer a free "Non-Obligatory Quotations" , but just because it's a free service doesn't necessarily mean we are obligated to prepare one for the clients, there isn't any contract anywhere that states that. If the meeting has been a clear waste of our time, then why should we bother spending more time preparing a quotation the clients will probably spend less than a minute looking through before deleting it from their emails. That being said, most of the time, if I don't actually prepare a quote for the client, it's most likely because they were exhibiting cunt like behavior during the consultation session.



Needless to say, the final amount exceeded their initial budget by $15k. and when I saw that amount, the husband's "cannot exceed $60k" just kept replying in my head, so I didn't bother to double check my quote for errors and just send it straight to the wife via email, thinking I was never ever going to hear from them again.




About 2 days later, surprise of the century, the wife actually emails back to me, requesting for a second appointment, I was very surprised and agreed to it, but unfortunately, the meeting ended up being another waste of time.



It was a pleasant consultation session, but the whole meeting was essentially just them calling me out for my expensive quotations, the main phrases I remember were...

"Your quote is by far the highest one we have gotten."

"The other ID offered us more carpentry, but their prices are still lower than yours."

"Your quote is almost 10k more expensive than the other firms we have visited."

... they were not being confrontational about it at all, but it was just a little mind boggling to me. If the other Interior Design Firms are offering you a better price than me, then why did you even bother scheduling a second meeting with me in the first place ? I honestly do not get the logic behind it, you could have spend the weekend elsewhere, meeting with the cheaper Interior Designer to fine tune the quotation, but instead, you decided to drop by my showroom and call me out for charging you higher than the other Interior Designers. 

If the first meeting I had with them felt like a waste of time, well, this second meeting just felt completely redundant and if there is a third meeting, time will probably collapse upon itself from the sheer redundancy of it. They were a nice couple though.


----



Recently, the company is planning a company trip for all the employees and I am not really keen to attend the trip because I have to pay $300 for it.


You'd think that a company trip would be paid for by the company, but because I did not manage to hit my sales quota, the company isn't going to be paying for my ticket. The trip sounds like it is compulsory and that just doesn't sit right with me because that's the company essentially forcing me to shell $300 out of my already meager income to go for a trip I have no interest in going.



I also do not know how much longer I have with the company, am seriously contemplating to leave the company very soon to look for a different career, just have to quickly finish up my remaining projects and that option will finally open up for me.

Getting my panties in a bunch.

Didn't really have a proper lunch this afternoon, so I decided I would drive over to Burger King at the nearest Community Center to get a quick bite.



There is this new item on the menu that I wanted to try as well called a Malty Float, so I ordered it and realized it was just Iced Milo with Soft Serve, I was expecting some sort of rich chocolate drink with soft serve, so it was a little disappointing.



As I was on my way back, I reach a little zebra crossing area, and I could see 2 cyclist cycling closer towards the crossing and then stopped right in front, there was a bus right in front of me at that point, and it was blocking the crossing, so right after the bus drove off, I inched forward a little and stopped right before the crossing, in an attempt to allow the 2 cyclist to cross the road.



That second that I waited for them to cross felt like forever and then one of the cyclist looks at me, brows furrowed , flicks his wrist and mouths at me to go, as if me offering to let him cross the zebra crossing has somehow offended him.



Here's a tip, if you do not want to cross the zebra crossing, then don't stop right infront of the zebra crossing and confuse drivers who are actually using the fucking road.



This really isn't a huge deal actually, it just really pissed off because of the way he was signaling for me to go, I mean at least have some fucking common sense, you are the one who is waiting in front of a zebra crossing, drivers are automatically going to assume you want to cross, for fuck sake, even a kid is going to assume you are gonna want to cross it, so if you do not want to cross the zebra crossing, then, oh, I don't know, wait a few meters behind the fucking zebra crossing so you don't give drivers mixed signals and make them stop their cars for you!




Moron.

UnEVENTful

My Company had a renovation event over the weekend and I was present for the first half of the day, my second half was dedicated to my other client who wasted a lot of people's time last night.



But since I have already blogged about the latter, I will blog about the former.




So for my company event, my boss had this idea to giveaway door gifts to customers who came to the event, and it's not small useless items like a calendar or a notepad, my boss decided the free gift would be appliances like hairdryers, ovens and even an induction cooker, this promotion naturally drew in a lot of customers and that's where the problem lies because half of these customers weren't really there for renovation purposes, they were just there for the free door gift, and I had the unfortunate privilege to serve two such disgusting individual yesterday.





From the get go, I could already tell they were there purely for the free door gift, it was so obvious.



The first guy had a floor-plan, so I started with him first. When I asked him what he wanted to do with his home, he went...

"Maybe you can share with me what you think I can do to it, propose some ideas to me."

... so I ran through the space with him and found out that the space is already furnished, the necessary carpentry are already in, there was nothing I could do unless it was additional carpentry that he requires, so I asked him if he wanted to redo his existing carpentry instead, and he goes...

"Well, the cabinets are all actually still in good condition, so maybe not."

... you don't want to touch your existing carpentry and you also have no idea what additional carpentry you want added into the space, fucking obvious this guy is a scam, so I decided to fuck with him a little and ask him to share with me how his house layout is like because I got a little suspicious that the floor-plan probably wasn't even his.




I told him to share with me how his current master bedroom layout was like and needless to say, the layout he shared with me just didn't work. He told me he had a walk-in wardrobe in the room, and in that room, he also had a King Size Bed, when I ask him to roughly draw out the layout for me, the bloody bed couldn't even fit into the space after the walk-in wardrobe space was marked out. I then told him straight that the bed doesn't fit if the layout is like this, and he just replies with...

"Yeah, I have a little space constraint"

....space constraint my fucking ass, your bed can't even fit in the room, what the fuck? Is the bed clipping into the wardrobe space like a badly drawn 3D drawing?  I then decided to just go over his requirements quickly, because I know he is not going to actually do a proper renovation, might as well get it over and done with. We discuss possible carpentry he can install, I did a quick quote for him on the spot and his fake consultation was over.



And then his friend was also with him and it is clear that the 2 of them are in this event together for the free gift, so after I was done with one free loader/ liar, I decided to move on to the next.




Dude doesn't even have a fucking floorplan, when I told him I couldn't do much without any floorplan, he just ask me to give him a rough estimate on how much it would cost to renovate a 2 bedroom condo. His consultation doesn't even last 5 minutes and after that, I ushered them out, I was contemplating on just sending them on their way without giving them the door gift, but I stupidly told my marketing manager to let the guy with the floorplan draw a gift and he did, but I also made sure to let his friend know that he wasn't eligible because he didn't have a floorplan.



Your friend put in the effort by bringing a floorplan, you didn't, so he gets to reap the benefits of being a cheapskate scammer and you just wasted your time.




Right after they leave, another pair of customer walks in and this time, they were honestly at the event for to ask about the renovation for their home, unfortunately,  I really didn't like the wife because she was being a bitch the entire time.



When they first came in, the husband was carrying the baby, so the wife was the one I spoke to, she passes me her floorplan and she just had this disgruntled look on her face the entire time, she did not smile at all during the consultation and when I suggested some ideas to her, she will question them, I knew from that moment that I am never going to agree to a second appointment with them even if they requested for it because I don't want to be dealing with a fucking cunt for the next 2 to 4 months.




After a while, the wife was over it, so she decided to let the husband talk to me instead, she takes the baby from her husband and starts rocking her baby in her arms as her husband took her seat and started talking to me. The husband was so much more easier to speak to, he was very friendly and sometimes when I see husbands being such friendly individuals, it just boggles my mind how such a nice guy can end up with such a miserable and unpleasant creature for a wife.



But acts of miracle aside, the husband came prepared and he started sharing with me reference photos of interior shots he had found online, the whole time the wife was behind him just looking down and when we were done discussing the living room area, we moved on to the bedroom.



The husband requested to build a TV Console in the room, but because the space was too tight to fit a TV console, I advised him against him and when I asked them if they had actually seen the unit themselves and understand how small the space really is, the wife impatiently exclaimed...

No! We haven't gotten the key yet!"

....I wanted to swat her baby off her arms, throw my fucking chair at her face and shout back at her to watch her fucking tone.




She soon disappears into the company showroom and starts exploring the place with her baby while I discussed further with the husband and I honestly felt bad for the husband because he was sharing his ideas so intently with me, but I already know that I won't be scheduling any meet ups with him anymore, I honestly do not even want to bother doing up a quotation for him, just because his wife is such an unbearable creature.




When we were done, he signals to his wife that he was done and they soon made their way out, I got my marketing manager to give them a door gift as well because the husband was a nice guy, and as they were leaving the showroom, the husband thanks me for my time but the wife doesn't even bother, she thanks my marketing manager for the gift but doesn't even give me a second glance.




Fucking Bitch.



So I actually got no potential customers from the event yesterday because they were all garbage and because I couldn't stay long enough to get more due to the shit I had to settle with my other client during the latter part of the day.

Request Redundance

I have been under quite a bit of stress lately from a project that was suppose to be completed by now, but due to some minor issues that occurred, my clients have decided that it is not ready and requested for the items to be replaced.


What started out as a minor issue got blown completely out of proportion because my supplier send inept individuals to do the touch up works, not once, but twice.


The first time was meant to be the last time they did any rectification works for me, it was meant to fix issues but all the guy did was make things worst by using strong chemicals to clean a powder coated frame, which cause minor discoloration that was made painfully obvious by the lights from the track lights my clients have installed on their ceiling



Initially my client wasn't too concern about the issue, they were upset about it but I quickly assured them that I would get someone down again to fix the problem for them, so I did and the guy comes down the very next day.





This bloody idiot took a look at the problem, didn't know what to do and actually verbalize it in front of my clients, telling us....

"I have no idea what is wrong, so there is nothing I can do, I will check with my boss on the next course of action."

... so when I asked him what caused the issue, thinking he would at least have some sort of rough idea the possible problem, he goes...

"I'm not so sure."

.... packs his bag and leaves, it was so fucking stupid. Upon hearing that, my clients got very worried and that is when the problem actually started because they became extremely paranoid and kept thinking that the discoloration was a naturally occurring issue, that the material itself is the problem when the truth is some moron before that had used a strong cleaning agent to clean and accidentally rubbed off the powder coating.






On my end, I tried to explain to them what I think happened but they were not convinced, so I told them to give my supplier a chance to explain themselves, to give the supplier a time to meet up with them and explain to them professionally what is happening and what can be done to fix the issue.



There were a lot of problems trying to set up a meeting due to several meeting with other clients on my end, but I eventually found the time and my client finally got the chance to actually speak to knowledgeable workers, they did a great job explaining the problem, assuring my client that the issue is minor, because it really is a minor one, and then did a really good job doing the touch up for the affected areas.




I spend a total of 3 hours there, inhaling the fumes from the spray paint and when it was almost completed, the frames actually looked almost as good as new, the discolorations were gone and my client looked satisfied with the result, so I left the house, thinking I can finally sleep peacefully and wake up feeling rested now that the problem has been resolved, because this shit has been stressing me a lot lately.




Well, my joy was short lived because a few hours later, I get a text from my client telling me that he was now unsatisfied with how the frames feel after the spray painting.





REALLY? And for the entire time I thought the only issue was the way it looks, now you are telling me you are not satisfied because it does not feel smooth.




Now, my problem with this issue they have is that the "feel issue" is even more minor that the initial discoloration issue, the earlier issue was obvious under the track light and I understand why they aren't happy with it because it looks a little dirty from certain angles, but telling me the touch and feel of it is unsatisfactory, now what the actual fuck?





If the newly sprayed coat feels super rough like sandpaper and it is visibly patchy, than of course I will get the suppliers to change it because that means something is really wrong, but that's not the case here, right now, the issue they have is that the frame is not as smooth as last time, it is still smooth, just not as smooth. It's such a stupid reason to have the entire set replaced because it is not as smooth.





What a fucking headache, now, even the supplier is annoyed by me because I am constantly ruining their day by sharing with them my clients' ridiculous and unnecessary request to replace the entire set.




The whole thing just feels so pointless. My supplier was willing to change a portion of the affected area, but when I told him the owner requested for the entire piece to be replaced, he actually flipped out at me and told me that was impossible. I honestly feel really bad for my supplier because this owner's request is just ridiculous, it's so fucking stupid, you complaint that the frame doesn't look good, so we fixed it for you, and now suddenly you are telling me you can't accept it because it doesn't feel as smooth after the fix? Wasted everyone's fucking time, telling the supplier and me on site...

"Yeah it looks good, I can accept this fix."

... and then tell me via text an hour later that it is not satisfactory, fuck off! My supplier who doesn't work on a weekend actually made the effort to drop by the site personally on a Saturday evening just to explain the problem to the client, stayed there for a whole 3 hours before leaving at 8pm, that really is going the extra mile, and then my client just tells me the repair is unacceptable. I was so irritated I almost didn't want to reply to his message after that.




Bloody fucking stupid.

Lil' Bitch

I haven't been blogging for a while because lately, there hasn't really been much to blog about, work was fine the past few months, didn't really have much to complaint about, the Chinese New Year break was a long time coming, it really gave me some time to not have to think about work on a daily basis and I also got my paycheck after a year of working in the company.



It is a hefty amount to receive at one go, a small 5 figure, but if I were to divide it equally into 12 months, then I am receiving the same amount the army was giving me 5 to 6 years ago, which is not good.




But I am blogging again today because it's my birthday and also more importantly, I got shit I need to get off my chest.




So recently, this customer I blogged about in the last post has slowly started to show his mean streak. Even before he sign the contract to engage me as his Interior Designer, I could already sense a meanness in him, that pettiness he exhibits when the security guard for the condo doesn't let him through, the names he would give to a certain contractor because her service is slightly more expensive than he thought and the complaints he would share in the group chat about how his neighbor is a dick. I was hoping to not be the subject of his petty behavior, but my hopes were dashed because he has finally transformed into that little bitch and is slowly but surely starting to become a real piece of shit.




Like I have written in my previous post. I was never interested in his renovation, everything that happened happen because they misconstrued my intentions during my email exchanges with them. Well, now I am bearing the grunt of that mistake.



Not too long ago, I spotted a small issue with their toilet and decided to bring it up to their (him and his wife) attention, everything was fine and it really isn't a problem caused by my side, it was just an issue that limited my client's toilet bowl selection.



To give a bit of context, when one actually purchases a toilet bowl for their toilet, there are certain measurements that they need to take note of before actually making a purchase, measurements that the toilet bowl supplier will ask you before they sell you the toilet bowl.



Now, when I found out about this issue, my client did not call me up prior to ask me about those measurements, so I was under the assumption that they haven't bought the toilet bowl yet. I then brought this issue up in the group chat, thinking they will respond with...

"Noted! Thanks for the information!"

....or maybe ask me why their options have been limited and then end the conversation with some sort of gratitude for learning something new from me like...

"Oh, didn't know that! Thanks for letting us know!"

 ... so imagine my surprise when the husband actually responded with...

"Remind me why the Interior Designer isn't doing this?"

... Doing WHAT exactly ? 



WHAT THE FUCK AM NOT DOING?



Buying the toilet bowl for you?
Do you want me to buy your furniture for you as well?
While I am at it, why not let me decide what TV you should get.
I'm sure your wife doesn't want to do the washing of the clothes by hand, so why don't I also go to the departmental store and get you guys a washing machine on your behalf.
Assuming you guys are up to date with the latest technology, let me help you sign up for a Netflix account as well.
Your kids are starting Primary School soon? Hey, let me go apply a position for them as well!
You need to take a shit, hey, let me stick my finger up your butt to encourage your bowels to release the supper you had last night.
As an Interior Designer, I guess it is also my job to help you wipe you butt, since you are taking a shit in your house, and anything that is even remotely related to your house is part of my job scope, RIGHT?



Gosh, what a horrible Interior Designer I am for not treating you like a brain dead individual who can't do shit himself!

It was a little ridiculous because all my other clients have never expected me to buy a toilet bowl for them on their behalf. Why, because I got no fucking clue if you would prefer a rectangular bowl or a circular one, do you want me to sit on the toilet bowl and than write a 1000 word review about each one in the Whatsapp group chat so you can slowly read through, imagine yourself on the bowl and then decide decades years later after you have moved in to the house and made it a habit to shit in a bag because there isn't a toilet bowl for you to use because you are too fucking lazy to actually go to a sanitary shop to test out the bowls for yourself!




NO! 



So I explained to him why I don't do that as calmly as I could, and I ended the message with a smiley face to make it appear like I am not actually pissed off at his stupid comment.



He then responds with...

"Already bought the toilet bowl, will be delivered by the end of the month."

.... so I assumed wrong, they did went to buy a toilet bowl without the proper measurement, curious as to why they would do something so stupid, I ask them why the shopkeeper didn't ask them for the measurements, to which the husband simply responded with....

"They did ask us for the measurement."

....and? They did ask you for the measurement, you didn't have the measurement, and? Continue your story about how you came to that stupid fucking decision of buying a toilet bowl without having the necessary measurements.




I was getting really annoyed by the stupidity at this point, so I just ask them for the toilet bowl model and started doing my own research to check if the toilet bowl can fit. No prize for guessing that it wasn't a right fit because no one is going to give you a million dollar for guessing that ice is cold.



I then ask them to ask for an exchange because it is not going to fit, so they did and luckily for them, the shopkeeper was willing to do the exchange, so far I haven't got an update from them about the exchange, really wish I didn't have to care to be honest, but if shit goes wrong, blame will be on me, so I have to give a shit.



Problem solved, right?



Nope, well technically that problem was solved, but then today, another one arise. I wouldn't really call it a problem, but an additional renovation work that I had to bring to their attention and it has to do with the repair of the parquet floor.




I have already brought this issue up to the husband before and I even went as far to tell him that I will bear 60% of the cost for the repair because it was a oversight on my part and he was agreeable to it, he knew the price and so when my worker started work on the parquet this morning, I decided to update him and his wife of the repair work in progress, to which the husband actually replied with...

"Upseller. What is the cost?"

... really? "Upseller". I have a name, use it, if you don't want to use it, then just start your message with the question, no fucking need for you to be so unnecessarily rude to me. Don't want me to be calling you Asshat in the group chat would you, Asshat?





So after a bit of exchange back on forth about the progress of the work and what not, with me being extremely professional about it may I add, he suddenly goes...

"Just let me know how much the extra works will cost, I don't want you to absorb too much and lower your profit margin."

... which confused the fuck out of me. So are you not happy with my work or are you worried that I am not going to make any profit from your project? Because you have managed to piss me off like no customer ever did and you are suddenly concern that I might not earn much? What the fuck is with this inconsistency, suffering from DID or something?




Has Asshat gone to sleep and someone else from the many personalities in your mind re-emerge to back track and repair all the damages Asshat did?




It's like a sudden 180 degree change from fucking asshole to concern client, so I have no idea if calling me "Upseller" was meant as a dig at me or as a joke, but that name calling really sullied my impression of him.