Marie Antoinette Syndrome

My third renovation project is running much worst than my first, and it's not the project itself is facing a lot of problems, but my clients who are giving me a lot of problems.



That is the downside of having young couples as clients, they don't really know what to expect since it's their very first home, so they expect perfection and it's understandable, but extremely fucking annoying.

Just recently, they found certain issues with the way their tiles were laid, so the wife kept asking me if the lippages that she found on the tile was considered normal, I didn't really think too much about it, so I checked with my tiler and he assured me that it was considered normal, an information I relayed to my client, making sure to let them know that that was what my tiler told me and it wasn't something I made up.

I had a few days of peace, apart from the last minute carpentry changes they wanted made which was a whole other ordeal, until one fine day, when I receive a tile related text from the wife, still unconvinced about the tiles...

"Honestly speaking, do you think the tiles are considered acceptable?"

... honestly speaking, I thought they were acceptable, but after the constant barrage of messages from her and her husband, I couldn't help but second guess the tiler's workmanship.



It gets really tiring when you try to convince someone about something but they just don't want to accept it, so they keep asking you until you give them the answer that they want and that's exactly what the wife did, despite many attempts at trying to convince her that the lippages were normal, she just kept going on and on about how it's not suppose to pop that much because she had read about it on an article online and everything you read online should be accepted as the ultimate truth I guess.




And so if I were to Google "Best Chocolate Cake Recipe" and be showed 100 different "Best Chocolate Cake Recipe", I guess that internet will start to create a wormhole from the paradoxical result and suck everything thing into itself and become nothing.

I mean who knew that reading a few articles online suddenly makes you an expert at tiling works and makes you more qualified than my tiler at determining what's acceptable and what's not acceptable huh.




A few weeks ago, I finally found a bit of time to meet up with my friend for a movie, and everything was going well until I started getting messages from them, asking me about the renovation, asking me why things were happening the way they were, asking me why they were not informed of certain design decisions I had made for them, requesting for a few last minute changes that had to be made and just completely ruining my entire day with their bloody questions. I did not manage to finish my burger and fries that day because I just completely lost my appetite that day from having to deal with them, I was so busy texting them and explaining myself to them and that was the day that I realize they were going to be a real handful and my hand has been full of their loaded question ever since.

"Do you think the tiles are acceptable"

If I say Yes!

"But I read about it online and it states that it isn't."

If I say No!

"I knew it, so can you get your guys to fix it"

I get a little panic attack every-time I get a message because every-time I get a text message from either this couple or the other couple who's project still hasn't been handed over yet, it's almost always never a good thing, which is why now these 2 Whatsapp group gets their own ringtone and LED Indicator colour.



I used to tell myself...

"Don't run this project thinking about money, do it out of gratitude for the client, for the chance they have given you and for the experience you will gain from it."

... Well, that tune has fucking changed because it's not fucking worth it. I am almost running this project for them for free, so I'm not really seeing why I should be showing any sort of gratitude to them when the only thing they have given me so far is a bundle of stress.

Everything's a defect

Now that my very first renovation project has completed, all that is left before the flat is handed over to the clients is to do the final touch ups, and depending on how anal they are about the rectification works, these project can be handed over as soon as this weekend or dragged as long as months from now.




Knowing my clients and their penchant for finding even the smallest flaws, I can safely say that the hand over won't be happening anytime soon. Every single paint streak is heavily scrutinized and labelled as a defect if it is not completely even with the rest of the wall,  the smallest bumps on the doors are labelled as a defect, even hairline scratches don't get off the hook and are obnoxiously labelled.




I have spoken with my clients and tried to reason with them to be a little bit more lax in the spotting of such small imperfections, because the contractors who does all the works are human, there are bound to be small little errors that will pop up here and there, but if it isn't anything that is glaringly defective, then turn a blind eye to it and live with it because a few months from now, they won't even notice that "defect" anymore.




The husband was agreeable and said he will "close one eye" for some of the imperfections and the wife has grown to be a little cautious when it comes to actually pointing out what she considers a defect to me because I think deep down, even she is aware how ridiculous some of her request are.



There were a few rounds of checks that were done prior to the completion of the project and I was agreeable to the first few rounds of checks, when they took down the defects and handed the list to me, I called up my contractors and told them to rectify the spots that needed to be rectified, some were legit defects, but most of them were extremely minor aesthetics imperfections, and I just got my contractors to fix them all.




As more and more of the bigger issues got rectified, smaller non-issues starting popping up and it just got so ridiculous to the point where I didn't even want to ask the contractors to come down to fix it for them because it was almost akin to calling an entire battalion of soldiers to kill a single rat, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix those issues on my own instead.

"There are spots on the door frame that needs a bit of touching up."

I bought a $20 tin of paint with my own money and touched up the frame for them.

"There is a little gap between the carpentry that needs to be filled up with silicon."

I went to buy a small tube of silicone and fixed it myself.

"The soap basket is a little loose, please get your plumber to come and tighten it."

I went to the nearest hardware shop and got my own set of screw drivers, but realized they were too small, so I went home to get the correct size ones and tighten the basket for them.




All those are legit request from them and I did all of them on my own, fixed all the small issues, even went to buy a small tub of wood putty that cost me $30, just to fix a few knocks on their timber skirting, the putty was never used because I ended up just using black marker to colour and conceal the chipped parts, which totally worked.



A few days ago, I finally got the cleaners to come down to their flat and do a final washing, and the point of the final wash is to ensure that the flat is clean enough for moving in, emphasis on "clean enough". The cleaner's job isn't to make the flat spotless, no one died in the flat, there isn't any need to use any heavy duty cleaners to clean the floors or scrub the walls, the owners will ultimately still have to do their own cleaning up when they move in, because when the movers bring the loose furniture over, the place is going to be dirty again, so there really isn't any point in making the space spotless.




Well, I get a text from the homeowners today asking me...

"Why are the windows still dirty?"

... and attached to the text is a picture of the window with a bit of mark on the outside. I wasn't really thinking at that point and was actually a bit flustered about the so called "dirtiness" of the window, so I asked them if the windows are dirty on the outside or on the inside, not really sure where I was going with that question, to which the homeowners just went...

"Definitely needs a rewash, I don't think they have cleaned the windows at all."

.... thinking back, I'm pretty sure they did, I mean what did you expect? A squeaky clean window after 4 days? The window panels are bound to get a little dusty after 4 days, especially because the house hasn't been ventilated for 4 days and there was some rain happening during the past 4 days, but at that point, my common sense wasn't working, so I just told them to tabulate all the "defects" they can spot and just send them all to me to take a look, and the photos started streaming in one by one, unsurprisingly, all of them were minor aesthetic issues that I could barely spot in the photos, and they just kept sending them my way.

I got really uneasy for a while and decided since the car was available, I should just drop by the house and hope they are still there doing the spot checks so I can address some of this so called "defects" to them directly, so I grab a bottle of thinner from home and made my way over, the stream of pictures had stopped by the time I was on the road, so I assumed they were probably done for the night and had left the flat. 

By the time I reach the flat, they were already gone, so I went ahead and took a look at all the defects they had pointed out to me and not surprisingly, despite having told them them how some of these are not considered defects before, they still stick a post it note on them and expect me to get them rectified. I couldn't fix those issues today, because I needed plaster to even out the small little gaps that should be expected from a paint job done by a human, but I could clean the paint marks off the veneer doors, so I did just that.

I got a relatively dirty cloth that has been around the flat since the renovation started, wet a small portion of it with thinner, and started rubbing away at the paint marks, they came off really easily, and in an attempt to make the process faster, I used more and more thinner and started rubbing the doors really vigorously, that was when I realized the once blue cloth was slowly starting to turn brown, and it wasn't getting brown because of dirt.

Turns out thinner actually damages veneer doors if used undiluted because the doors started getting really cloudy at the spots I was cleaning, so the doors are now free from paint spots, but in it's place are huge wipe marks of the veneer slowly getting worn off by the thinner, the wood stain was slowly getting cleaned off with the paint spots.

I screwed up really bad and I am worried about how they will react to it, but a small part of me also just wants to go...

This isn't the first screw up I have done to their flat though, there was another issue they had with the painting, a minor issue once again, and this was the day after I had told the painter to come down and do the rectification work for a second time.

Normally, the painters will only need to come down once for the rectification works, the homeowners will tabulate the defects and they will get all of them fixed in one visit, that's how it is suppose to go, but with my clients, that is not the case, every time after the painter is done, they will find new problems, and really, after making the painter come down for the second trip, I honestly felt really uncomfortable asking him to come down a third time, not even a week after his last visit, it was free to repair any painting defects but I didn't want to call him down every time there was a small issue, so I decided I was going to solve this issue on my own.

The problem that was presented to me by my clients was this little paint drip that was running down the wall, and honestly speaking, unless you were specifically looking for it, it is not even visible to the naked eye, but my clients being my clients, they went ahead and marked it out as a defect, so I put a post it note on that drip and came back the next day in an attempt to fix it on my own.

I have read online that in order to fix that issue, the drip needs to be sand off first, so I went to buy sandpaper and started rubbing against the wall really vigorously, I got more than I asked for because instead of the drip slowly smoothing out, the entire patch of paint just flaked off the wall, leaving this huge round white gap on what was suppose to be a brown wall.

Now that is a defect! (But it can be rectified with some plastering, so it isn't as big of a screw up as the veneer doors)

That's what happens when you find issue with even the smallest flaws, sometimes things get worst.

Out of desperation, I decided to try and fill that gap with paint, so I dip my brush into the paint bucket and slathered paint on the wall, smoothing it out with my name card, because that was the only thing I had on hand that could work as a trowel, my name card started crumbling apart for some reason and as I drag the edge of the card to smooth out the paint, it left in it's wake black fibers that just spread across the entire area, it was horrible. Left with no other choice, I just painted over those black fibers and decided that the patching up will be done at a later date when I have some plaster on hand.

The funny thing is the clients didn't even notice that dent in the wall when they went down to the site this evening. I was expecting them to send me a picture of the dent and ask me what happen, but they didn't even notice it, and that dent is a lot more prominent that the paint drip they had noticed days before, this is how ridiculous their spot check is.

I feel like the longer they drag their hand over date and the more problems they try and find with the renovation, the more I will try to fix those problems for them and make those problems much worst than they originally were.

What was originally a 95% perfect renovation has now slowly been reduced to a 92% perfect renovation thanks to all the unnecessary meddling on my end that was only brought about because of the unnecessary rectification works they have requested on their end. This sounds completely irresponsible, but if the owners want someone to blame for the decaying state of their home, they can only blame themselves.

I'm honestly just getting really tired dealing with them, now that I have 2 new sites to run, I want to quickly get this first one over and done with once and for all because the second one is already giving me a whole new set of problems to deal with, and to make things worst, I was recently asked to prepare a design proposal for one of my Dad's client for a Landed Property project that I am just completely not interested to do.

This is probably the most stressed I have been ever since I started working, having to be available 24/7, getting text messages from my clients at midnight asking for my opinions on certain things or complaining about certain design decisions I have made without their approval, there are times I am just very tempted to completely switch off my phone for a few hours, just to know that for that few hours, I won't have to deal with any clients. 

Would be really nice if I could just get a month off and be completely unproductive, like the good ole days when I was still working for my Dad and not have to worry about money. 

Paranoid Much.

Met a new client yesterday that I thought had quite a bit of potential, them being a walk-in customers and looking to do renovation work for their kitchen that was of a very similar nature to the one I had just completed about a month back.




Initially I wasn't very interested to get any more new customers, seeing how I am currently running 2 projects on hand with another 2 that will probably start at the end of the year, I didn't want to encumber myself with new ones to worry about until at least one of these 4 current ones have been completed and handed over happily to the clients.





When they walked in, I wasn't the one who went to greet them, one of my managers did that and because he also had a tone of projects on hand, many times more than me, he didn't want to take any new customers as well, so he directed them to me.





The client were a pair of couple, somewhere in their late 40s, almost the same age as the Malay couple who also did their kitchen renovation with me, except this time, this pair was Chinese. I really enjoyed working with the Malay couple because they were really easy going and didn't rush for things to be done, they wanted the renovations to be done as soon as possible, like most homeowners would, but never once did they actually pressure me to be faster, even when the renovation brought them some inconvenience, they have never actually complaint and just found alternative solutions to the problems on their own.




Well, this Chinese couple wasn't as easy going, in fact, they were extremely wary of Interior Designers in general because of a bad experience they had with their very first Interior Designer.



The reason why I know that is because after the consultation session, I had a quick chat with them and learn that they have had experiences with Interior Designers before, curious as to why they did not choose to return to him for the current renovation needs, I learned that things did not end of a good note with them and their designers due to bad a lot of  promises that were were made by that Interior Designer that was not delivered.




I didn't have a good feeling about this because there was a very high chance that they could end up projecting their disdain towards their first Interior Designer on me, and every small delay could be a trigger for them to start going ape shit and accusing me of not delivering what was promised. Simply running through with them my company's payment method was enough to make them go super suspicious of me....

"We have to pay up to 95% before we even see the kitchen cabinets up? That is ridiculous! And you are telling me you have accreditation. I don't think a company with the proper accreditation would follow the payment method your company is following, I am also in a similar industry, so I know how this works."

.... he doesn't really know how this works, so I was curious, and incredibly annoyed, and asked him what industry he was in, to which he tells me he does commercial projects. So, it is a pretty similar field in a sense that we are both in the renovation industry.




I explain to them the reason why we are charging the way we are, and the wife looks to the husband and goes...

" Actually, that's like what your company does also."

... and then looks back at me and says....

"But if you put yourself in our shoes, would you be willing to pay 95% before you have even seen the actual carpentry?"

WHAT? You just said to your husband that his company does the same payment method as what my company does, so why are you asking me to put yourself in your shoes when you clearly understand that this payment method is completely normal. 

At this point, I was starting to get even more annoyed, so I reiterate that we can only deliver the goods when the payment is made, this is to cover our company's backside in case the customer suddenly decides they were not going to pay when the carpentry has been installed, to which the wife goes...

"Your company only covers yourself, never cover the customers at all."

... so I told her that we have an insurance that will protect their money should we run away with it, they still were not convinced and really at this point, I just didn't bother looking at them as potential customers anymore because they had more potential becoming a pair of huge pain in the ass. I mean of course the company has to protect themselves, there are all sorts of customers out there who would try their best to wiggle out of payment, if we were to give every customer the benefit of doubt, the company wouldn't be able to last.

During the course of our conversation, every time the wife says things that customers who are genuinely interested will say, things like...

"So when can we commence work should we agree to reward you with our project?"

... in my head...

... so I told the wife...

"Why don't you go to other Interior Design firms to compare the prices as well and look at their payment methods."

... because that was the nicest way tell them to fuck off, and then they left, I hope they won't call me back though, really hope they have found someone else because I'm really not that desperate to run the project for them.




Had I really wanted to close the deal with them, I honestly believe I could, because the wife was clearly very interested despite her reservations, but I didn't want to over promise and I didn't want to deal with them for a month, so I decided to let them walk out the front door and hopefully never return again. One can hope that they don't.

It's not just the first electrician...

After the horrible experience I had with my first electrician, I decided that I was no longer going to use his services and instead, look for the electrician that majority of my colleague in my company uses. They had good things to say about him, so I was optimistic that it will be a much more pleasant experience then my first.

At the start, the experience was great, the workers he send down on the very first day were competent and they were able to get all the electrical works done within a day, I was with my client that day and even he complimented at how experienced they were, things were optimistic and I was really happy that I was finally rid of the first electrician.

A few days passes by and the flow of the project was going well, I had some hiccups with the uplifting of goods and the masonry works, but they were all quickly rectified by the contractors the very following day after I brought up my concerns with them. 

Today, I get woken up by a phone call from my tiler, and when I get such a call early in the morning, it can't be anything good. So he calls me up and told me that the electricity in the unit had been cut off, that there was no way for his workers to continue work without their electrical equipment, I quickly contacted the electrician right after to send some of his men down to help me rectify what was causing the issue, since I had just gotten up, I was mumbling quite a bit and that irritated the electrician quite a bit, which was fucking ironic because he himself is also guilty of mumbling, but anyways, after rudely going "huh?" at me a few times, he understood my request and went...

"Okay okay. Text me the address."

... as I have stated, he mumbles, so I kept asking nicely for him to repeat himself, which really irritated him, but once I finally understood what he was mumbling, I did as he requested and send the address to him via Whatsapp, he doesn't tell me what time his worker will actually go down to my site, so I called him again to check exactly what time he will bring his workers there, and he goes...

"Around 12.00 pm to 1.00 pm."

... I was assured that he would go down at the time he had told me, so I relayed that information to my tiler and decided that I should probably also drop by the site to see the progress of the work.




I reach the site at around 11.30 am and only one worker was present, sitting on the floor having his lunch, not really able to do much due to the lack of any electricity, he tells me that the other workers have been relocated to other job site around the area while he waited for the electrician to come and fix the electricity. So I spoke with him a bit, told him the electrician will arrive shortly, and waited a little while, hoping the electrician would show up soon so I can at least be on site to explain to them what needed to be done and actually see for myself that the issue was fixed.

12.30 pm passes and at this point, I was ready to leave, I have already taken all the pictures I needed to show my clients, I have already seen what I needed to see, measured what I needed to measure, so I told the tiler I was going to leave first and left for my other site. I was very skeptical whether or not the electrician would be there but I remain relatively hopeful that he would show up, thinking that if he didn't show up, my tiler would call me up before 2.00 pm and actually inform me about it so I can double check with the electrician if he is coming over. 

So the period from 1.00 pm to 2.00 pm, I was nervously anticipating a call from my tiler, thinking that if he doesn't call after 2.00 pm, that would mean the electrician has dropped by and rectified the issue. I mean it doesn't make sense for the worker to just sit around and doing nothing for the entire day without asking his boss why the electrician isn't here yet when the designer has personally dropped by to let him know that the electrician will be arriving by 1.00 pm.

Well, for a short period after the 2.00pm mark, I wasn't really thinking too much about the electrician, in fact, I was a little surprised that he delivered as promised, because I have heard from my other colleagues before that despite this electrician being a lot better than the first one I worked with, he still had his own issues, such as being a complete no-show sometimes. The possibility of him doing that to me ran through my head a few times, but I kept thinking, if something was amiss, my tiler will let me know about it, and since it has already been an hour pass the stipulated timing, everything must be going smoothly for my phone to remain so quiet.

And then I finally receive a call at 4.10 pm from my tiler....

"Your electrician hasn't come yet? Is he going to be coming today? We are going to knock off soon, my worker has been waiting for the past few hours, unable to do any work. If the electrician can't make it, then he should have just said that right from the start instead agreeing to come and then not showing up at all, he just completely wasted my worker's time."

.... somehow, I am not surprised, my tiler was angry, but his anger wasn't directed at me, I didn't really feel angry, just felt really sian, that what could have been an entire day of progress, has been reduced to the workers either waiting around doing nothing, or getting send to another site to work on other projects.




Just the idea that the progress those workers were able to make at the other site could've been done at my site is what really grinds my gear. The amount of work that could have been accomplished today, completely gone because the fucking electricity decided to give in.

When I called the electrician to tell him about his absence, I literally told him...

"You didn't come down today"

....he doesn't even sound remorseful for not showing up, he just carries on the conversation like he did nothing wrong, and then tells me he will send his guys down tomorrow, which was not even convincing at all, I was the one who said...

"You didn't come down today, so my tiler has left, come down tomorrow morning instead."

... I made the mistake of making it come across as just a trivial mistake on his part, like..

"Oh, you didn't come today, well that's alright, no damage done, just make sure to pop by tomorrow."

....which was fucking stupid of me because it is not fine to be a complete no show, and the way I said it made it sound like I was a pushover, so he just went...

"I tomorrow morning send my guys down."

Doesn't ask me to text him the address and number lock, just saying it for the sake of getting the conversation over and done with, it's like I was talking to a fucking parrot who's just repeating the last few words I am saying.



I really should learn to emulate my senior colleagues or my boss when I speak to the contractors




All my other contractors are fine, they actually treat me like a client....

When my haulage guy forgot to uplift all the tiles and cement for me, which resulted in a few stolen items, he was so apologetic about it and kept apologizing to me profusely, going so far as to replace those stolen items for me.

When my tiler forgot to order the necessary materials for me for my first site project, he was very apologetic about it and got one of his own workers to personally deliver the materials up to my site.

When my carpenter couldn't show up for a site visit due to a family emergency and had to send his worker to replace him, he kept apologizing to me about it and he made it up with good service.

But when both the electricians that I have used so far does a no show for an agreed appointment, they just give zero fucks. Not apologetic at all whatsoever, doesn't care if they have wasted your time and energy, just completely fuck all and then sometimes complaint that the work I have given them is not even worth their time and effort, that I should be feeling honored that they are willing to accept my job

What really irks me about this whole situation was the fact that my electrician only read my text at 3.05pm, a text I had send to him at 10.00am.

That means by the time he read that message, he already knew he was 2 hours late, but for some reason, doesn't bother to call me to tell me he was going to be late or not going to make it, just decides...

"Well fuck it, since I am already 2 hours late, I might as well not go at all today."

... what the actual fuck? What kind of bullshit work ethic is this?

If you can't make it, say you can't fucking make it, don't just keep quiet. I did not call for shits and giggles.

I guess switching electrician isn't going to make the electrical work aspect of any of my renovation projects easy, my company has 4 electrician contacts, I have used 2 and so far, these 2 have been horrible pieces of shit, I heard the third one also has issues with punctuality and the inability to give a fuck about responding to text messages, so I guess for the third project, I am going to have to try using the fourth one, the brand new electrician that was only recently introduced into the company that hopefully won't be a stench filled experience.

End It Soon

My third renovation project has officially started on Monday, but it felt like it only truly began today when all the cement and tiles were brought up to the barren flat.




The problem with the tiles and cement being brought up today is the fact that it was supposed to be brought up yesterday, they were sitting on the first level, exposed to the elements but wrapped tightly in plastic wraps, so it wasn't exactly unprotected, but I can't help feeling a bit unease knowing that at least a thousand dollar worth of tiles and cement material was just sitting right in the open, ready for anyone to just come by and grab.



I only realized that the items were still on the first level when my tiler actually called me up and was rather impatiently questioning me where the tiles and cement were, telling me all his workers were already on site just waiting idly. Naturally, I got extremely flustered and proceed to call the person who was suppose to bring the material up for me, he was extremely apologetic for forgetting and quickly send his men to my site within 30 minutes, so I call up my tiler and inform him that the workers were arriving and the goods will be uplifted soon, to which he replied...

"Some of the items have been stolen."

... and that wasn't the end of it

"Some of the bags of cement have been soaked by the rain, don't think can be used anymore."

So someone actually decided that since he or she had ran out of or was lacking material, he or she would help himself to my pile by ripping the plastic protection sheet open, grabbing the materials he or she needed and leave my bags of cement exposed in the the rain.

Okay, stealing my shit is bad enough, but leaving the other items out in the rain, fully aware that they will get damage when they get wet? Just goes to show what a fucking huge cunt the thief is.

Thankfully, the bags of cement were used immediately once they were brought up to the flat, so nothing was wasted, but items were stolen, so they had to be replaced and thankfully, the contractor who was in-charge of bringing my goods up offered to bear the cost of the stolen items for me since he felt that this whole thing could have been avoided had he actually brought the items up when I told him to. I don't really blame him though, since it was an honest mistake and he was really apologetic.





Things so far are going alright with the site, I'm afraid I may be short of tiles though, so that is worrying, my client also paid a visit in the evening and pointed out a few errors he spotted to me, which was horrible because those mistakes are legit mistakes that had to be rectified and this is only the first week.




Speaking of rectification, I will soon be completing my very first renovation project, finally, after so many months, the final works will commence tomorrow, of course, with how extremely particular this couple are, I am foreseeing a very difficult period of rectification works for them before I can finally handover the project to them that is to their satisfaction.




Every single small imperfections is heavily scrutinized by the wife it's really quite an ordeal for me as their designer, the slightest chipping of paint gets labelled as a defect, the slighest scratches, defective, it's almost as if they are expecting my contractors to be robots, it is ridiculous, zero room for human error.

When I get a message of them with a picture of the so called defect, it doesn't look good, I will admit that much, but when I actually make my way down to take a look at the problem on site, it will be this small little patch at the corner that hardly anyone will notice, it is bloody insane.I sometimes feel almost jealous of the other interior designers that they have turn down, just the fact that they don't have to deal with the level of scrutiny  I have and will be going through soon.

Just a month back, I was having a back and forth with them about some issues with their switches. The switches works perfectly fine, but they do not like the colour because it isn't exactly the same colour as the one provided by HDB, which they find is an eyesore.

Once again, very small aesthetic issue, the color difference is slight, but because they are who they are, that just screamed defect to them, and so I explain to them that this isn't something my side can control, it just so happens that the manufacturers for the switches decided for some reason that they were no longer going to produce the original white color switches anymore, now that they are only selling the off white variants. The off white model and original white models are literally sold as the same model, so this is really a manufacturer issue that is completely out of my control...

"This isn't right, why are the color of the switches different? You have to change it for us."

... and they were so persistent it was bordering on straight up annoyance. I explain to them if they wanted the colors of the switches to match, they can change all the switches by HDB, since I could no longer get the original white ones anymore, they were okay with changing but they did not want to fork out any money for it because according to them, this is something that should have been provided from the start.

Ummmm, hold the fuck up, are you kidding me? Provided from the start? I provided you the switches and the labor to connect and install the switches, that's what I'm suppose to provide, how the fuck was I suppose to predict that the manufacturer would want to change the base colour of the switches, why the fuck should it be my responsibility to change the switches for you for free?  

You don't see me going to a Koi Bubble Tea shop and demanding them to give me free pearls because I wanted the original black color ones but they are now selling the golden ones without my consent.






Makes no fucking sense. White was the original base color, but now the new base color is off white, so get on with the program! I keep telling them this is not within my control, this is not my problem, but it just doesn't register in their heads and they keep insisting for me to change because...

"It is to be expected."

You want the switches to be of a different colour, then you fork out the bloody money to change the switches. I stupidly agreed to change 2 switches for them when they first brought this issue up because I got annoyed with their constant nitpicking, and since it was only 2 switches, I didn't think too much of it, but my electrician is charging me an exuberant price for it because he is another fucking issue to deal with, so obviously, I am not going to agree to change all the switches for them for free.

Now that the renovations are close to completion, they brought the issue up again, and this time, asking me to change all the switches for them for free, again,  the husband is telling me he will source for his own switches, that if he found the white ones supplied by HDB, I will install those for him for free and refund him for all the switches provided by my electrician, even ends the text with

"Sounds Good?"

No! It doesn't sound good? It sounds like a bloody pain in the fucking ass. My electrician won't be agreeable to the refund, so I will be the one who has to refund him from my own wallet, and I have no fucking clue when he will actually be able to source for the switches, a week from now? A month from now? A year from now? Then what? I'm suppose to just get my electrician down and fix the switches for him? This electrician charges me $100 per trip at least, add that to the ridiculous $200 refund... that's going to cost me a good $300 because the switches are of a different shade?

Now I'm worried that once I actually handover the flat to them, they will be coming back to me with all kinds of minor issues, using the warranty provided by my company as an excuse.

"Oh, the paint has chipped off, it's covered under the warranty so come and fix it."

"Oh, my shirt got ripped when I was cleaning it in the washing machine, I'm sure it has something to do with the plumbing, come and get me a new shirt."

"Oh, I burnt my tongue when I was drinking my cup of tea, the electricity must have been to blame for the kettle boiling my water above 100 degrees, come and pay my medical bills for me."

I was looking forward to ending the project and no longer viewing them as clients but friends, but with the recent events that has transpired and will transpire in the not too distant future, my disdain towards them is slowing just growing bigger and bigger.

Public Transport Annoyance

I am relatively lucky that work starts a little later than the regular 9 to 5, so there isn't always a huge crowd when I board the trains or buses, but there are still passengers and most of the time, when the train reaches my station, all the seats will either be taken up by passengers from the last few stations, or they will get bombarded by impatient aunties who are waiting for the train at the same station as me.

Yesterday was no exception, available seating was scarce but standing space was aplenty, so I decided to just stand at the corner right next to the MRT doors like I normally would and just remain at that position until I reach my stop.  

My personal space was pretty much respected as more and more commuters started entering the train, and since I was standing at the side of the train door that won't open for the entirety of my journey, it felt like a pretty good spot, that was until this one old man boarded.

When I first saw him enter, I didn't really pay much attention to him, there was still plenty of standing space around and seeing how feeble he looked, I assumed someone who give up their seat for him, but then as I was using my phone, I could see from my peripheral vision that he was coming closer to closer to my corner, he grabs the pole right beside where I was standing and then just stands right in my corner, with his back facing me. 

 Like this, one hand holding a walking stick and another hand grabbing the metal pole right beside me. 

There was plenty of standing space with handles to grab, I have no idea why he decided to stand where he stood, but it was extremely uncomfortable because it was so bloody close and because his back was facing me, he wasn't really aware how close he was to me, or he really just doesn't give a fuck, but I didn't want to ask him to fuck off, so I just accepted the fact that I was going to be trapped by him until I reach my destination.

As the train started to move, someone finally stands up and offers her seat to the old man, she gets up and slowly makes her way over to him, to usher him to her seat and normally, the one being offered the seat will move forward and head towards the seat, but for some reason, this old man decides to move backwards, as if trying to give way to the girl, which made the amount of space I had available even tighter than it already was.

At this point, the whole thing just got extremely uncomfortable and I was getting really annoyed by this old fart who wasn't moving towards the seat that was offered to him, so I used my phone and kinda nudged at his backpack, to kind of indicate to him that someone was standing behind him and he should really stop moving backwards unless he wanted to get shanked by my Samsung phone, he stops moving backward but he doesn't make any attempt to move forward to get out of my personal space.

The girl that had offered her seat was standing beside me at this point and right in front of me, well not really right in front of me because what was right in front of me was the back of this old fart, was this empty seat that was offered to the old man, but where was the old man? Still standing right in front of me and at this point, he was just way too close for comfort, so I slowly tried to inch my way out awkwardly, pushing his bag away from me so I could make a big enough space to leave the small maximum security prison cell he had created for me with his body, and as I was awkwardly standing midway out of the prison of his body, he finally inches forward and heads towards the seat, my hands were on his bag at this point, so I slowly pushed him away from me and got him out of my personal space, a small part of me wished I could have just pushed him and shouted "Get the fuck outta here!', but I'm not an asshole, so I didn't do that.

But nothing much happened really, I was just really irritated by the old man so I was in a mood when I finally reached my destination and as I was taking the escalator, I had to be standing behind two foreigners who were hold a big bag of stuff, their friends were a few meters in front of them and some were already at the top of the escalator waiting for them at the side.

Now this is pretty much common sense, but once you have gotten off the escalator, you either continue moving forward or you move to the side if you are planning to wait for someone, what you don't do is stop right where you got off and block the fucking traffic.

This 2 dumb fucks, the moment they reach the top, instead of moving to the side, they just stop right in front of the fucking escalator, I actually had to take a step back when I reached the top because they were blocking the way, but I quickly inched forward and pushed their bags away with the tip of my phone, making sure to make a very loud "Tsk!" sound as I moved past them and was cursing at them under my breath, needless to say, I got even more irritated after that, luckily I only had a bad morning, the rest of the day went by relatively smoothly, met some clients and had a very late lunch, just mundane work stuff.

Speaking of mundane work stuff, I will be starting my third project tomorrow. At this point, I still haven't receive any of my commission yet because the first project is currently on a standstill and I didn't realize that I actually had to inform the finance department of the projects I have completed. 2 weeks I waited, thinking the company was processing and calculating my commission, turns out I actually had to tell them about it.

I'm estimating a meager $1,200 commission from that project, that will be my first pay cheque since January 2017, really kind of insane how I have not been receiving any sort of income for the past 9 months, gosh, it's this kind of realization that really makes me question the viability of this career path in the long run.

I have been considering looking for a career that would offer me a much more stable salary once my all my project has been completed, which will tentatively be after Chinese New Year, because it really isn't a realistic option for me in the long run.

Roadshow Happenings

Just got back from a roadshow event that was rather happening, I was suppose to leave the event at 1 pm, but my boss kept asking me to "cover" for my colleagues, the ones who were going to stay the whole day, while they went for lunch, so I ended up leaving at 3.30 pm.

I was able to get my hands on a few new customer leads and it's nice to get customers who are actually looking for an interior designer and not just emailing in looking for free quotations that being said, there was a couple who were pretty blatant about looking for a quotation, just right off the bat...

"Let's get to the point, we are planning to start work in 2 weeks so we are really looking for the an interior firm that will offer the best quotation at this stage."

... they weren't rude about it, in fact they were really friendly, but looking for an Interior Designer and expecting them to start work in 2 weeks, that's pretty much an impossibility, this stage should have been done at least a month ago, I mean they will probably only really confirm a designer next week, and that only gives them about a week to confirm the design, to shop for the tiles, to apply the necessary renovation permits and have those approved, there is no way in hell they will be able to start work in 2 weeks, even if they were to confirm a designer tomorrow, there is still no way they are going to start renovation work that soon. 

So they were pretty straightforward with a few of their cost related enquries and at this point, I just kinda lost any interest in running their project for them, I really wanted to get the conversation over and done with so I can move on, and since they were only really looking for cost figures, the conversation was pretty much them asking me...

"How much do you charge to hack a wall per foot run ?"

"How much will hacking the floors cost per square feet ?"

"How much will it cost to lay floor tiles on the walls and floors?"

... and I just gave them whatever information I knew, marking up the price slightly higher than I normally would sell to other customers, I did not give them figures that would be specific to their home measurements, instead, what I gave them was unit price and they just jotted everything down on this stack of paper with all the measurements written on it, it is really quite amazing to see the amount of effort they have put into their renovation, but alas, I just can't see them starting work in 2 weeks.

Whilst at the event, I also managed to catch a glimpse of my old customers speaking to other designers from the other design firms, well not very old, literally met them 2 weeks ago, not too sure if they saw me, but I saw them making their way towards the lower floor, didn't bother to go up to them and greet them, I wanted to, but decided against it, I don't think they would have been too excited to see me either because they stop responding to my emails.





I get that customers normally don't respond back when they are no longer interested because they are not comfortable at rejecting an Interior Designer, but I feel that not responding back is even ruder.

The first time I met them, I asked them if they had visited other Interior Design firms before, to which they replied I was the first one and they really didn't know what to expect from such a visit.

Since that was the first visit, I shared with them the services I will offer them for free at the early stages and told them I will email them the quotation when I was done, so they could take a look at the final figure and decide if my price was within their budget, we spoke for a little over an hour and then they left, I emailed them the quotation, thinking if they were interested, they would email me back to schedule a follow up appointment, and I wrote in the email that if the price is within their budget and they were still interested, we could schedule another meet up to discuss further....

Well, one of them emailed me back and asked...

"I noticed the carpentry dimensions aren't complete, there is only the length and height."

Really have no idea what she expected from the quotation to be honest, a fucking attachment of the custom carpentry blueprint maybe?

So I replied back that the purpose of the quotation was for her to get a rough idea of how much her renovation requirements would cost her, that getting more information is a benefit only paying customers will get (which isn't particularity true, but I just didn't really see a lot of potential in her to want to put in too much effort) ,to which she replied back...

"I can't decide based on the quotation, please advise on what I should do next?"

... I have already advised her on what she should do next in the first email, which is to schedule a follow up appointment with me if she was still interested, but I guess she must have missed that part, so I wrote back asking her more directly...

"Would you be free this weekend for a follow up appointment so we can discuss further?"

... that way, we can move past the quotation and roughly discuss the designs and overall theme she wanted for her home, well, no response after that, and then I see her and her friend at the event today. So I guess my advice that was emailed to her got translated into ...

"Stop disturbing me and look for other Interior Designers to entertain you."

Enough of that customer...

So I will be starting 2 new renovation projects soon, both of which are presenting their very own set of problems, which isn't great.  Really giving me quite a bit of headache to be honest, my first project hasn't even completed yet and I have recently signed 2 new projects to run, one of which belongs to a customer I was talking about in the previous post.



I am really not looking forward to working with that particular customer from the previous post, just because he takes so long to reply to my text messages, especially when it comes to scheduling an appointment, I always get inform last minute and I always feel bad because I always have to reschedule with him. For example, I would text him on Tuesday asking if he would like to schedule an appointment over the weekend so we can discuss his renovation requirements, and he will always write back...

"Will let you know later."

... and later isn't the end of the day, it's always the night before he wants to meet, it's horrible because on one hand, now that he is a paying customer, I have to prioritize my appointments with him, but on the other hand, I can't be leaving my weekends open just for him and ignore all my other appointments.