I had to lie about why I couldn't commit to her project because the truth is she is a pain in the ass to deal with and I couldn't say that to her.
She is a very nice and friendly person to talk to and I will admit, we had a good chemistry going into the consultation sessions, she was also very interested to engage me for my services because she felt that we clicked really well as compared to the other Interior Designer she had shortlisted.
But when I found out the type of apartment she was staying in and the location, a part of me started to lose interest in the project. When I first met her and we talked about her requirements, it seemed alright, pretty straightforward and nothing too out of the ordinary, a few simple touch up works here and there, redoing the entire kitchen and bedroom tiles, so I did my best to prepare a quotation for her and send it her way, thinking that if she isn't interested, then I also don't really care because I am not interested in the project, I wasn't against it initially, but I was also not very keen on it.
But she gets back to me not long after and we had a discussion on the phone, that was when her requirements started to get really really difficult, she was requesting for the kitchen tiles to be done, but to leave the existing cabinets alone, which meant my tiler had to be very careful when they are removing the tiles, to make sure it doesn't damage the existing carpentry, then she requested for the tiles to be polished, and the tiles isn't marble or granite, it is normal homogeneous floor tiles, which is not a surface that is commonly polished and then there are a slew of other really weird requirements that would cause so much unnecessary labour for my contractors that it just made me lose all interest in her project.
I tried my best to coax her out of all the weird requirements, so as to make my job a lot easier if for some unfortunate reason I actually got myself into the mess of her renovation, but she was adamant about it and kept asking me to check with my contractors about the possibility, I did and most of them were against her requirement, telling me it was impossible or that it was way too much work, and when I relayed that to her, she just told me...
... she wasn't demanding about it, in fact, she was super friendly about it, but talking to her is like talking to a kid who wouldn't take no for an answer, so I told her I will check with my contractors again but really didn't, because what is the point.
I have already asked them if it was possible, they said no, it won't make any difference if I ask them a second time, or a third time. That's like me walking into an Ice Cream Parlour and asking for an exotic flavor, like dogshit, and when the server looks at me in horror and tells me they have never created that flavor before and never will, I reply with...
... No means no, take it or leave it.
It was really really irritating, so I never really bothered to follow up with her after that call but then out of the blue, she suddenly request for me to send a copy of our contract over so she can look through them, I obliged and send her a copy, which is about 7 to 8 pages long.
The thing with contracts is no one really reads them , everyone just sort of glances through them. My clients are all pretty trusting so they will just sign the contract without being too concerned with the little details.
Well, this client isn't like all my other clients, she actually read through the entire contract and send an email back to me, sharing with me typos she found in the contract, asked me how some bond can be exercised if she required and then asked me if things weren't done to her satisfaction during the renovation, can she request for them to be replaced free of charge?
I honestly really really couldn't be fuck with her at this point, so I completely ignored her email and just went on to do my own stuff, she is a nice person but she was already being such a bloody pain to deal with BEFORE the renovation even started, what kind of monster will she become when the renovation starts, I do not want to know.
So everything was quiet for about a month, I thought maybe she has found another Interior Designer at this point because she did share with me that she had a deadline and had to start her renovation soon.
THEN she actually drops me a text one month later and tells me she wants to visit one of my existing projects to take a look at the workmanship.
It's like she doesn't get the hint, so I stupidly obliged to her request and brought her to my site to take a look, ONCE AGAIN, she starts talking about all her redundant requirements and asked me to check with my contractors to find a work around blah blah blah and I was just so desperately trying to tell her that it is pointless, I have asked and they have said it was impossible, so what is the point in me asking again, but she wouldn't fucking take that as an answer and just kept asking me to check again, so I just lied and told her I would, then she thanks me for my time and finally leaves.
I didn't bother to follow up with her after that, she texted me a few times after and I just told her I was in reservist so I couldn't get back to her, I told her I will be stuck in camp for the next 2 weeks so she might have to wait for 2 weeks to get any sort of updates from me, and she actually waited for 2 weeks!
So she dropped me a text yesterday morning asking me if there were any updates, I didn't bother to reply to her message until the evening time and instead of sharing with her the "updates" she has requested, I just told her straight that I was too busy and can't commit to her project, understandably, she was a little shock and she conveyed that through her text message, but instead of accepting my lies and moving on to another designer, she actually told me she could wait for a few weeks if it was necessary, so I had to exaggerate and told her I will be packed for the next 3 months at least, to which she stopped replying and I thought that was it, I am finally rid of her.
There is just something about her project that turns me off completely, so agreeing to run her project would be a real nightmare come true for me, she also had a very tight timeline she had to adhere to and I really do not like dealing with customers who have a tight deadline.
Everything was fine and dandy this morning, I mean I had shit to deal with at site because there is always shit to deal with, but anything that concerned her, I felt really free. So I went by my day dealing with the issues at my other sites and when I was finally done resolving the issues, BAM, she actually drops me a text expressing her disappointment.
To put the text in point form....
1. She is surprised at the sudden response.
2. She understands my situation.
3. She calls me out for informing her so late.
4. She has already hinted to the other designer that she was going to pick me so now she feels weird having to go back to the other designer.
... I really have no idea how I should reply, I mean she has the right to vent, but what am I suppose to say to that, I already apologized for telling her too late, I do not want to deal with her project so I am not going to suddenly tell her my schedule has miraculously opened up and I could fit her project in, to put it very bluntly....
... saying I am not interested in the project would be an understatement because I really really really do not want to touch the project at all, so there is no way in hell I am going to agree to take it just because you don't feel comfortable going back to the other designer.
Aside from this, Sly Fox project has pretty much come to an end, the final meeting went pretty well and he shared with me that he was generally quite happy with the renovation and then exclaim how easy of a client he must have been during the renovation, to which I could only laugh in disagreement. Just a few more minor touch up and I am officially done, that being said, I think there will be another difficult client I will have to deal with very soon, can't really give him a name yet, when shit hits the fan, I'm sure I will have one pop in my head.
She is a very nice and friendly person to talk to and I will admit, we had a good chemistry going into the consultation sessions, she was also very interested to engage me for my services because she felt that we clicked really well as compared to the other Interior Designer she had shortlisted.
But when I found out the type of apartment she was staying in and the location, a part of me started to lose interest in the project. When I first met her and we talked about her requirements, it seemed alright, pretty straightforward and nothing too out of the ordinary, a few simple touch up works here and there, redoing the entire kitchen and bedroom tiles, so I did my best to prepare a quotation for her and send it her way, thinking that if she isn't interested, then I also don't really care because I am not interested in the project, I wasn't against it initially, but I was also not very keen on it.
But she gets back to me not long after and we had a discussion on the phone, that was when her requirements started to get really really difficult, she was requesting for the kitchen tiles to be done, but to leave the existing cabinets alone, which meant my tiler had to be very careful when they are removing the tiles, to make sure it doesn't damage the existing carpentry, then she requested for the tiles to be polished, and the tiles isn't marble or granite, it is normal homogeneous floor tiles, which is not a surface that is commonly polished and then there are a slew of other really weird requirements that would cause so much unnecessary labour for my contractors that it just made me lose all interest in her project.
I tried my best to coax her out of all the weird requirements, so as to make my job a lot easier if for some unfortunate reason I actually got myself into the mess of her renovation, but she was adamant about it and kept asking me to check with my contractors about the possibility, I did and most of them were against her requirement, telling me it was impossible or that it was way too much work, and when I relayed that to her, she just told me...
"You help me check if there is any workaround."
... she wasn't demanding about it, in fact, she was super friendly about it, but talking to her is like talking to a kid who wouldn't take no for an answer, so I told her I will check with my contractors again but really didn't, because what is the point.
I have already asked them if it was possible, they said no, it won't make any difference if I ask them a second time, or a third time. That's like me walking into an Ice Cream Parlour and asking for an exotic flavor, like dogshit, and when the server looks at me in horror and tells me they have never created that flavor before and never will, I reply with...
"Help me check if you guys have, please. Maybe check with your central kitchen if they make that flavor"
It was really really irritating, so I never really bothered to follow up with her after that call but then out of the blue, she suddenly request for me to send a copy of our contract over so she can look through them, I obliged and send her a copy, which is about 7 to 8 pages long.
The thing with contracts is no one really reads them , everyone just sort of glances through them. My clients are all pretty trusting so they will just sign the contract without being too concerned with the little details.
Well, this client isn't like all my other clients, she actually read through the entire contract and send an email back to me, sharing with me typos she found in the contract, asked me how some bond can be exercised if she required and then asked me if things weren't done to her satisfaction during the renovation, can she request for them to be replaced free of charge?
I honestly really really couldn't be fuck with her at this point, so I completely ignored her email and just went on to do my own stuff, she is a nice person but she was already being such a bloody pain to deal with BEFORE the renovation even started, what kind of monster will she become when the renovation starts, I do not want to know.
So everything was quiet for about a month, I thought maybe she has found another Interior Designer at this point because she did share with me that she had a deadline and had to start her renovation soon.
THEN she actually drops me a text one month later and tells me she wants to visit one of my existing projects to take a look at the workmanship.
It's like she doesn't get the hint, so I stupidly obliged to her request and brought her to my site to take a look, ONCE AGAIN, she starts talking about all her redundant requirements and asked me to check with my contractors to find a work around blah blah blah and I was just so desperately trying to tell her that it is pointless, I have asked and they have said it was impossible, so what is the point in me asking again, but she wouldn't fucking take that as an answer and just kept asking me to check again, so I just lied and told her I would, then she thanks me for my time and finally leaves.
I didn't bother to follow up with her after that, she texted me a few times after and I just told her I was in reservist so I couldn't get back to her, I told her I will be stuck in camp for the next 2 weeks so she might have to wait for 2 weeks to get any sort of updates from me, and she actually waited for 2 weeks!
So she dropped me a text yesterday morning asking me if there were any updates, I didn't bother to reply to her message until the evening time and instead of sharing with her the "updates" she has requested, I just told her straight that I was too busy and can't commit to her project, understandably, she was a little shock and she conveyed that through her text message, but instead of accepting my lies and moving on to another designer, she actually told me she could wait for a few weeks if it was necessary, so I had to exaggerate and told her I will be packed for the next 3 months at least, to which she stopped replying and I thought that was it, I am finally rid of her.
There is just something about her project that turns me off completely, so agreeing to run her project would be a real nightmare come true for me, she also had a very tight timeline she had to adhere to and I really do not like dealing with customers who have a tight deadline.
Everything was fine and dandy this morning, I mean I had shit to deal with at site because there is always shit to deal with, but anything that concerned her, I felt really free. So I went by my day dealing with the issues at my other sites and when I was finally done resolving the issues, BAM, she actually drops me a text expressing her disappointment.
To put the text in point form....
1. She is surprised at the sudden response.
2. She understands my situation.
3. She calls me out for informing her so late.
4. She has already hinted to the other designer that she was going to pick me so now she feels weird having to go back to the other designer.
... I really have no idea how I should reply, I mean she has the right to vent, but what am I suppose to say to that, I already apologized for telling her too late, I do not want to deal with her project so I am not going to suddenly tell her my schedule has miraculously opened up and I could fit her project in, to put it very bluntly....
... saying I am not interested in the project would be an understatement because I really really really do not want to touch the project at all, so there is no way in hell I am going to agree to take it just because you don't feel comfortable going back to the other designer.
Aside from this, Sly Fox project has pretty much come to an end, the final meeting went pretty well and he shared with me that he was generally quite happy with the renovation and then exclaim how easy of a client he must have been during the renovation, to which I could only laugh in disagreement. Just a few more minor touch up and I am officially done, that being said, I think there will be another difficult client I will have to deal with very soon, can't really give him a name yet, when shit hits the fan, I'm sure I will have one pop in my head.
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