My company is officially closed for CNY and don't feel all that relaxed about it because...
1. My current $90,000 is reaching it's end soon and I am anticipating a lot of "defects" to pop up, and by that I mean my clients sending me a dozen text messages within a span of a few hour, depending on how stringent they are, reporting their findings to me.
2. My reservist starts right after the CNY Break is over, which is horrible because of the above reason, I will essentially be stuck in camp during the defect check, which means any issues that gets brought up, I can't deal with in person immediately because I will be stuck in camp.
When a client brings up an issue they have with the ongoing renovation, I will always want to be there in person to actually assess the problem because a lot of times, these defects aren't really defects but minor imperfections. It would be like getting a dozen cupcakes from a bakery and then pointing out that the liners used for the cupcakes are peeling off at the edges a little or that one of the cupcake has a slightly different looking swirl that the others... these are considered imperfections, defect would be finding a surprise Lizard in the center of the cupcake or a less dramatic example would be the cupcakes getting all smashed up when it gets delivered to your place.
It's generally quite a pain when I get messages about imperfections and not actual defects because it can get really difficult to explain to a client why I am not going to send someone down to rectify that small little smudge at the corner of the wall that they can literally take a paint brush and paint over on their own in a matter of minutes. A lot of times they will assume I am not doing what I am not doing because I am trying to shirk responsibility, but the truth is, I do not want to waste my sub-contractor's time because it will affect my working relationship with them if I keep asking them to do such minor touch up whenever a client complains about the smallest issue, they won't want to work with me if working with me would bring them such a great deal of inconvenience.
So anyways, the $90,000 project apartment has officially gone through it's final round of cleaning , I can now walk into the apartment with my shoes off, which feels nice, also dropped by the place earlier to stick stickers on the "defect" areas that needs touching up, my client will be returning back from his work trip tomorrow and he will be visiting the place with his wife, so FML, and all these to happen on my CNY break.
The wife has already dropped by earlier this evening to take a look and she spotted some minor fixable issues that would require a bit of arm grease power from me, like removing a bunch of paint stains on railings and what not, I mean they are easy fixes but getting these kinds of messages are just mood killers no matter how small the issues are, at best I would get distracted by them for a while, at worst, I completely lose my appetite and skip dinner despite feeling extremely hungry earlier.
I am already affected by a solo defect hunt done by the wife, once the husband enters the picture and they start doing the hunt together, that is when I am going to not have any appetite for anything.
When I first got my hands on this couple's renovation project, even before I clinched their project, I had already anticipated this day to come, just the sheer scope of the work that was done to the place, it is inevitable that they would have a lot of imperfections and defects to bring up to me and request for me to fix, but the stress that comes from this is something I can never mentally prepare myself for, it is always a very stressful process and I have been pretty lucky that for my last few projects, the clients were either on site everyday to monitor and able to immediately get the contractors to rectify those issues on the spot, or they were in a rush to move in so they couldn't spend a lot of time doing the defect checks, especially because once all the furniture comes in, it becomes harder to spot the blemishes on the walls or the slight dent in the cabinet door, it's like the defects suddenly become the needle in a haystack of furniture.
This project has really delayed for almost 2 months now, previously the client's parents was expecting me to complete the project within 2 months, so around end November, which was an impossible request, so I told them it was impossible and was about to give up on the project if they insisted on that timeline, but I was luckily able to talk some sense into them and then estimated for it to end at the end of December before Christmas, but then the clients requested to do a lot more work, so that date was pushed back to mid January, then my carpenter fucked up and the clients also messed up and ordered a light that had a 3 weeks delivery timing, so that date was pushed to end January, then of course my carpenter screws me over again and delays his work, add the CNY break into the mix and I can only officially have every single item in the project delivered by early February. I will be going for my reservist in February, so everything else I will likely only be able to co-ordinate from camp and can only officially officially hand over the project to my clients at the end of February.
I am so stressed out my face is just free real estate for pimples right now, it is times like this when I just want to quit and get a different and much more stable and predictable job, always at this stage I will tell myself that I don't want to re-live this level of stress again, and then the project ends, I get happy to get paid and the cycle repeats itself.
When I have no projects to run, I crave for them, but when I have projects to run, I abhor them.
What the actual fuck.
Thursday, 23 January 2020
Wednesday, 15 January 2020
Scum Ha Ha
So about that particular Commercial Project that I had blogged about previously, the one with the extremely unreasonable clients, FINALLY my company is taking action and has engaged a lawyer to draft out a defamation cease and desist letter to send to those two fuckers.
After I had blogged about them, my company still attempted to try and talk some sense into the clients, met them up at the store to personally run through the "issues" they had that were caused by my colleagues because of "poor project management skills" and it ended with the two fuckers not only refusing to pay up the remaining contract sum that they owed the company, they actually had the audacity to demand for our side to pay them for the damages incurred to them financially because they had to delay the opening of their store that led to them making financial loses.
My colleagues had their respective managers, one of them being my own, go down and talk to the clients and after hearing their demands, the only thing my manager had to say to them was to settle all this in court because there is just no point trying to talk common sense into those 2 greedy fucks anymore, it was clear that no matter what solutions my colleagues came up with, they weren't going to accept them, what they ultimately wanted in the end was to default the remaining payment they owe us, which is disgusting enough, and then also to just get us to actually pay them more!
The only word I can think of to describe those 2 fuckers, aside from fuckers, is just scum, 2 pure disgusting greedy scums.
If karma truly exist, here's hoping for their business to fail in 2020!
After I had blogged about them, my company still attempted to try and talk some sense into the clients, met them up at the store to personally run through the "issues" they had that were caused by my colleagues because of "poor project management skills" and it ended with the two fuckers not only refusing to pay up the remaining contract sum that they owed the company, they actually had the audacity to demand for our side to pay them for the damages incurred to them financially because they had to delay the opening of their store that led to them making financial loses.
My colleagues had their respective managers, one of them being my own, go down and talk to the clients and after hearing their demands, the only thing my manager had to say to them was to settle all this in court because there is just no point trying to talk common sense into those 2 greedy fucks anymore, it was clear that no matter what solutions my colleagues came up with, they weren't going to accept them, what they ultimately wanted in the end was to default the remaining payment they owe us, which is disgusting enough, and then also to just get us to actually pay them more!
The only word I can think of to describe those 2 fuckers, aside from fuckers, is just scum, 2 pure disgusting greedy scums.
If karma truly exist, here's hoping for their business to fail in 2020!
Another Low Commission Project
Feeling pretty stressed out about my current project right now.
After the mess that my carpenter got me into with his forgetfulness to fabricate a few items that I had clearly asked him to do, now my window supplier also managed to screw things up for me.
The good thing is all the problems that I am currently facing so far are issues that can be solved, but at the expense of my already dwindling commission, my clients for that particular project are now entering the "defect spotting" mode, which is the part of the renovation that I hate the most because it usually means I will be getting a shitload of messages at one go.
Actually getting all of them at one go is better, I would rather clients do that then take the whole day to slowly stream in the messages because that just feeds into my anxiety. The ones who are updating me while they are doing the defect checks are the worst because it could be a whole day affair, that means I am feeling stressed out the whole day waiting for my phone to stop fucking "ding"-ing.
Anyways, for this current project, I have been helping the clients absorb a lot of additional costs because in the beginning, I thought since it was such a huge project, biggest one I have ever gotten, I would be making a lot of money, so covering certain items for them wouldn't be an issue for me. These are the items I have covered for them so far...
... and then of course there is the fuck ups...
Which brings the total amount I have loss to a staggering $5,920, that's $2,400 from my own personal profit taking a hit, this is not including the $3000 goodwill discount I gave them from the start, which means I am actually making about $3,500 loss in my personal commission.
I also helped them absorbed a few more items out of goodwill without telling them, like giving them the option to choose any door handle they wanted for their new doors, and they chose the most expensive one which they are now sharing with me is too dark and not the color they wanted. I offered to change the knobs for them though because it honestly wouldn't cost too much, I mean I am already bleeding $3500, what's another $50 gonna do? But thankfully they were nice enough and told me it wasn't necessary.
Currently I am estimating to earn only a measly $4500 from this project, calculate what I lost in personal profit, my actual commission should have been at least $7,900.
The amount might sound big for a single project, but if I were to take into account how long it has taken me to actually clinch this project and how long it has taken me to do this project, the amount is honestly not a justifiable amount.
I met this couple in early 2018, they only engaged me at the start of 2019, so a whole year of back and forth, literally met them over a span of about 10 design meetings before they finally decided to engage me, a normal client would only meet 3 times on average before they decide to engage an Interior Designer.
Once everything was confirmed and the contract was signed, it took about another 6 months to get to the stage I am right now, so if I were to exclude that whole year of back and forth, dividing $4,500 across the 6 months I have had to work with my current clients, that is only $750 per month, 6 months is until right now, I am anticipating the renovation to drag on until possibly late February to early March if nothing messes up, so I am estimating about 7 months in total.
The last 2 projects that I did which were running simultaneously took me 6 weeks to complete, and during that 6 weeks, I have managed to earn close to $3000, even though it was 2 projects, the scope of those 2 projects were so much easier to handle, I hardly had to be on site for one of them. That's $2000 per month for those 2 projects, so if I split that into 2, I was earning about $1000 a month per project.
In fact, I would go so far as to say this current one is even worst than J&J's because with J&J's project, even though they did a lot of things, it was so much less complexity involved, there were less details I had to take care of, it was very straightforward so I didn't have to do as much coordination work. The commission I am getting from it is still pure shit, that is a fact, and it is still comparatively less that what I am getting from this current one, but just simply based on the complexity of the work, the amount of money I got from J&J's project is still much more worthy of my time than this current one, and by a STRETCH!
With J&J's Project, when it started, I could at least see the end, and it pretty much only lasted about 1.5 months before everything was done and I was done with them, with this current one, I had originally anticipated it to end mid December, then more works were requested last minute, so it ended up dragging to end December to early January, right now it is already mid January and sure, it is coming to an end soon, but it still feels like it has a long way to go.
So far, the clients for my current project have been very nice, very patient and just in general very appreciative of everything I have done for them, so it kinda balances things out a little.
After the mess that my carpenter got me into with his forgetfulness to fabricate a few items that I had clearly asked him to do, now my window supplier also managed to screw things up for me.
The good thing is all the problems that I am currently facing so far are issues that can be solved, but at the expense of my already dwindling commission, my clients for that particular project are now entering the "defect spotting" mode, which is the part of the renovation that I hate the most because it usually means I will be getting a shitload of messages at one go.
Actually getting all of them at one go is better, I would rather clients do that then take the whole day to slowly stream in the messages because that just feeds into my anxiety. The ones who are updating me while they are doing the defect checks are the worst because it could be a whole day affair, that means I am feeling stressed out the whole day waiting for my phone to stop fucking "ding"-ing.
Anyways, for this current project, I have been helping the clients absorb a lot of additional costs because in the beginning, I thought since it was such a huge project, biggest one I have ever gotten, I would be making a lot of money, so covering certain items for them wouldn't be an issue for me. These are the items I have covered for them so far...
Insurance - $350
Door Frames - $500
Soft Closing Door Stopper - $120
Permit Extension Fee - $500
Fiber Cable Install - $150
Replacing Existing Windows - $100
... and then of course there is the fuck ups...
Carpenter - $3000
Windows - $1200
Which brings the total amount I have loss to a staggering $5,920, that's $2,400 from my own personal profit taking a hit, this is not including the $3000 goodwill discount I gave them from the start, which means I am actually making about $3,500 loss in my personal commission.
I also helped them absorbed a few more items out of goodwill without telling them, like giving them the option to choose any door handle they wanted for their new doors, and they chose the most expensive one which they are now sharing with me is too dark and not the color they wanted. I offered to change the knobs for them though because it honestly wouldn't cost too much, I mean I am already bleeding $3500, what's another $50 gonna do? But thankfully they were nice enough and told me it wasn't necessary.
Currently I am estimating to earn only a measly $4500 from this project, calculate what I lost in personal profit, my actual commission should have been at least $7,900.
The amount might sound big for a single project, but if I were to take into account how long it has taken me to actually clinch this project and how long it has taken me to do this project, the amount is honestly not a justifiable amount.
I met this couple in early 2018, they only engaged me at the start of 2019, so a whole year of back and forth, literally met them over a span of about 10 design meetings before they finally decided to engage me, a normal client would only meet 3 times on average before they decide to engage an Interior Designer.
Once everything was confirmed and the contract was signed, it took about another 6 months to get to the stage I am right now, so if I were to exclude that whole year of back and forth, dividing $4,500 across the 6 months I have had to work with my current clients, that is only $750 per month, 6 months is until right now, I am anticipating the renovation to drag on until possibly late February to early March if nothing messes up, so I am estimating about 7 months in total.
The last 2 projects that I did which were running simultaneously took me 6 weeks to complete, and during that 6 weeks, I have managed to earn close to $3000, even though it was 2 projects, the scope of those 2 projects were so much easier to handle, I hardly had to be on site for one of them. That's $2000 per month for those 2 projects, so if I split that into 2, I was earning about $1000 a month per project.
In fact, I would go so far as to say this current one is even worst than J&J's because with J&J's project, even though they did a lot of things, it was so much less complexity involved, there were less details I had to take care of, it was very straightforward so I didn't have to do as much coordination work. The commission I am getting from it is still pure shit, that is a fact, and it is still comparatively less that what I am getting from this current one, but just simply based on the complexity of the work, the amount of money I got from J&J's project is still much more worthy of my time than this current one, and by a STRETCH!
With J&J's Project, when it started, I could at least see the end, and it pretty much only lasted about 1.5 months before everything was done and I was done with them, with this current one, I had originally anticipated it to end mid December, then more works were requested last minute, so it ended up dragging to end December to early January, right now it is already mid January and sure, it is coming to an end soon, but it still feels like it has a long way to go.
So far, the clients for my current project have been very nice, very patient and just in general very appreciative of everything I have done for them, so it kinda balances things out a little.
Friday, 10 January 2020
4th D&D is the charm....
The Company's Annual Dinner & Dance has once again come and gone and after my first year, I have sort of been looking forward to all the Dinner & Dance because of the prizes I could potentially get from the sure win lucky draw and also the fact that none of the ones I attend from now on will be as painful and awkward as the first one.
Like always, there was a theme to the dinner and I really didn't bother to dress up, went in my best "not even trying" look and a few of my colleagues were not impressed by how unbothered I was about my get up. A few others also really didn't dress up so I wasn't the only lazy one present that day.
Once again like last year, there was a long wait before we were actually allowed to enter the Hall, so there was a lot of chit chat going on, people were drinking soft drinks and alcohol as we waited, I just sat in one of the armchair and stayed in that chair for almost an entire hour because that's how early we were expected to arrive.
Sub-Contractors started streaming into the venue, most of them I have never worked with so I also didn't really bother to get up and greet most of them, once a while I would talk to some of my colleagues who were hovering around my area, but otherwise, I was either on my phone looking at Facebook or just staring into space.
When we were finally only allowed to enter the Hall, which was 15 minutes after the stipulated timing, everyone went to their seats and unfortunately this time around, I was seated with a bunch of my colleagues that I don't really speak to, I thought since I will be seated with a bunch of sub-cons that I use often, we could have something to talk about, but that was a bust as well because I didn't feel very chatty trying to compete with the speaker that was constantly pumping really loud music, every time I tried to talk to my sub-con or one of my colleague, I will always have to repeat myself multiple times, so eventually I just gave up completely. My sub-con who was seated beside me probably had something to eat earlier, so he wasn't hungry and spend half the time on his phone surfing Facebook.
Oh, and during the dinner, there was a belly dancing act, there was one during my first Dinner 3 years back that I felt was a little weird, the feeling is still the same after all these years, it's still really really odd to have belly dancers for such a proper event. I didn't really care too much about it and didn't watch much of it because my back was facing the stage and it was too troublesome to keep my back turned to watch a few ladies gyrate.
So after a few dishes and games, the lucky draw finally starts and like the last time, it was a roulette system, everyone's name is one the screen and the computer will spin the wheel and when it stops on the person's name, the person will get the prize.
When the host announced what the first few prizes were, I honestly was hoping I wouldn't get them because they were spa vouchers and flight vouchers that I would never use. I would have preferred to get the consolation prize over those items. Luckily for me, my name was never selected and I got to escape the vouchers.
The lucky draw is split into two sections, the first part is where all the mid tier prizes are being given out, I thought those were the lousy prizes and it could only get better from there, but as the dinner was coming to an end and we started the second portion did I realize that only 4 names would be picked and the rest would be consolation prizes, the 4 names will be winners of the big prizes, which were just straight up cash that were $388, $588, $1288 and $1888 being the grand prize.
The host begins the lucky draw and gets his guy to hit the roulette button, it spins and it lands on someone I don't really know.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
The winner gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
The host then gets his guy to hit the roulette button again and it lands on one of my colleague who was seated at the table in front of me.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, people at her table were cheering for her, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
There were now only 2 big prizes left and everyone was getting really excited, the roulette button gets hit again and this time, it lands on my colleague who was seated right next to me, that expression she had on her face when she realized she had won $1288 was one of utter disbelief, she had her hands covering her mouth as she stood up and made her way to the stage.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
When she came back to the table again, I asked her what was in the red packer and she takes out a piece of paper and shows me what was written on it, there wasn't any cash in the angbao, but instructions on how to claim the money, which makes sense because it is a pretty large amount. Anyways, as I was talking to her, the host was already starting to roll the roulette, I really didn't think too much at this point, this was the grand prize we are talking about, chances of winning is pretty slim, so I decided that instead of focusing on the roulette, I will just eat my dessert.
And then the roulette lands on a name and everyone starts clapping, I looked up at one of my colleague who was seated at another table and I see him clapping his hands and then slowly turning his body towards me, I was still shoveling the mango desert in my mouth when the host shouts out my name and when I looked at the screen, I was shocked!
The same thing happened last year as well, my name got selected when I wasn't looking at the screen and when I was also shoveling food in my mouth, except then, it was because I really didn't want that particular prize because I had no use for it, but I digress.
So I quickly slurped up whatever mango desert I had on the spoon and made my way up, the host then makes a joke about me focusing on the desert more than the lucky draw and when he was congratulating me as I was walking towards the stage, I almost wanted to like dance a bit but decided to maintain my integrity and just head straight for the stage, my boss then tells me how lucky I was, we shake hands and smiled for the camera, I was still shaking at this point, I am sure my smile on the photo is going to look super awkward and uncomfortable, people were cheering from the crowd and then I made my way back to the table with one person at the table congratulating me because almost everyone else had left my table at that point.
When the dinner ended, a lot of people came up to congratulate me and it is kinda weird because I don't really know what to say aside from "Thanks", it just feels a little awkward to have people come up and congratulate me for being lucky. A few of my colleagues jokingly tease me about winning the top prize and started rubbing me for luck and what I was really thinking to myself then was...
... but hey, at least now I am $1,888 richer, which is more money that I will be getting from J&J's project.
Like always, there was a theme to the dinner and I really didn't bother to dress up, went in my best "not even trying" look and a few of my colleagues were not impressed by how unbothered I was about my get up. A few others also really didn't dress up so I wasn't the only lazy one present that day.
Once again like last year, there was a long wait before we were actually allowed to enter the Hall, so there was a lot of chit chat going on, people were drinking soft drinks and alcohol as we waited, I just sat in one of the armchair and stayed in that chair for almost an entire hour because that's how early we were expected to arrive.
Sub-Contractors started streaming into the venue, most of them I have never worked with so I also didn't really bother to get up and greet most of them, once a while I would talk to some of my colleagues who were hovering around my area, but otherwise, I was either on my phone looking at Facebook or just staring into space.
When we were finally only allowed to enter the Hall, which was 15 minutes after the stipulated timing, everyone went to their seats and unfortunately this time around, I was seated with a bunch of my colleagues that I don't really speak to, I thought since I will be seated with a bunch of sub-cons that I use often, we could have something to talk about, but that was a bust as well because I didn't feel very chatty trying to compete with the speaker that was constantly pumping really loud music, every time I tried to talk to my sub-con or one of my colleague, I will always have to repeat myself multiple times, so eventually I just gave up completely. My sub-con who was seated beside me probably had something to eat earlier, so he wasn't hungry and spend half the time on his phone surfing Facebook.
Oh, and during the dinner, there was a belly dancing act, there was one during my first Dinner 3 years back that I felt was a little weird, the feeling is still the same after all these years, it's still really really odd to have belly dancers for such a proper event. I didn't really care too much about it and didn't watch much of it because my back was facing the stage and it was too troublesome to keep my back turned to watch a few ladies gyrate.
So after a few dishes and games, the lucky draw finally starts and like the last time, it was a roulette system, everyone's name is one the screen and the computer will spin the wheel and when it stops on the person's name, the person will get the prize.
When the host announced what the first few prizes were, I honestly was hoping I wouldn't get them because they were spa vouchers and flight vouchers that I would never use. I would have preferred to get the consolation prize over those items. Luckily for me, my name was never selected and I got to escape the vouchers.
The lucky draw is split into two sections, the first part is where all the mid tier prizes are being given out, I thought those were the lousy prizes and it could only get better from there, but as the dinner was coming to an end and we started the second portion did I realize that only 4 names would be picked and the rest would be consolation prizes, the 4 names will be winners of the big prizes, which were just straight up cash that were $388, $588, $1288 and $1888 being the grand prize.
The host begins the lucky draw and gets his guy to hit the roulette button, it spins and it lands on someone I don't really know.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
The winner gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
The host then gets his guy to hit the roulette button again and it lands on one of my colleague who was seated at the table in front of me.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, people at her table were cheering for her, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
There were now only 2 big prizes left and everyone was getting really excited, the roulette button gets hit again and this time, it lands on my colleague who was seated right next to me, that expression she had on her face when she realized she had won $1288 was one of utter disbelief, she had her hands covering her mouth as she stood up and made her way to the stage.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
She gets up, takes a pic, grabs the angbao and leaves.
When she came back to the table again, I asked her what was in the red packer and she takes out a piece of paper and shows me what was written on it, there wasn't any cash in the angbao, but instructions on how to claim the money, which makes sense because it is a pretty large amount. Anyways, as I was talking to her, the host was already starting to roll the roulette, I really didn't think too much at this point, this was the grand prize we are talking about, chances of winning is pretty slim, so I decided that instead of focusing on the roulette, I will just eat my dessert.
And then the roulette lands on a name and everyone starts clapping, I looked up at one of my colleague who was seated at another table and I see him clapping his hands and then slowly turning his body towards me, I was still shoveling the mango desert in my mouth when the host shouts out my name and when I looked at the screen, I was shocked!
The same thing happened last year as well, my name got selected when I wasn't looking at the screen and when I was also shoveling food in my mouth, except then, it was because I really didn't want that particular prize because I had no use for it, but I digress.
So I quickly slurped up whatever mango desert I had on the spoon and made my way up, the host then makes a joke about me focusing on the desert more than the lucky draw and when he was congratulating me as I was walking towards the stage, I almost wanted to like dance a bit but decided to maintain my integrity and just head straight for the stage, my boss then tells me how lucky I was, we shake hands and smiled for the camera, I was still shaking at this point, I am sure my smile on the photo is going to look super awkward and uncomfortable, people were cheering from the crowd and then I made my way back to the table with one person at the table congratulating me because almost everyone else had left my table at that point.
When the dinner ended, a lot of people came up to congratulate me and it is kinda weird because I don't really know what to say aside from "Thanks", it just feels a little awkward to have people come up and congratulate me for being lucky. A few of my colleagues jokingly tease me about winning the top prize and started rubbing me for luck and what I was really thinking to myself then was...
"There goes all the good luck I will have for 2020."
... but hey, at least now I am $1,888 richer, which is more money that I will be getting from J&J's project.
Saturday, 4 January 2020
New Potential Client & New Year's Resolution
One of my current client recently introduced one of his friend, who was looking for an Interior Designer to me and initially I was really happy with the referral because so far, everyone who was introduced by referral from that particular "client tree" were amazing to work with, they were really easy-going and friendly and I always complete their project feeling like I have made new friends.
When I first met this new client, he actually reminded me of my very first client because they had similar facial features and so I felt immediately comfortable talking to him.
During the consultation, he was relatively easy to talk to, his wife was also present and they shared all their requirements with me and honestly everything went pretty well, and then they told me that their apartment was located in Punggol and that was when I felt like this project suddenly wasn't worth my time anymore.
But I decided to not turn it down so quickly and attempt to give it a shot, I can handle having a project at an inconvenient location once in a while, it is fine. I did up a space planning proposal, prepared a quotation and emailed him the quotation a few days later, he responds almost immediately and thanks me for the quote but not before asking me to send him some mock ups because if it was just the quotation, he couldn't really base it off anything, I then told him I would be able to let him see a rough 3D in person, but I wasn't going to be able to actually send him any softcopy to refer to because I am not going to just let a non-paying customer get copies of my 3D drawings so they can just take my work and have a contractor do it for a cheaper fee. He was still pretty insistent on having something to see, so I begrudgingly agreed to sent him a copy of the space planning proposal.
About 2 hours later, he creates a group chat with his wife and adds me into it, which I thought was great because it is not a very common occurrence for a client to immediately open a group chat to discuss, normally this only happens when a client is interested to engage me for my services, but right after the initial...
... he just started criticizing my initial space planning proposal, telling me how bad the layout was, how he didn't like the way the bed was place, how the kitchen felt strange because it looked really empty and of course the complaint about the price being on the higher side.
I was immediately turned off because I felt like he was very tactless with the way he was phrasing his words, the main feedback I got from that wall of text he send over was that I did a poor job with the space planning and then after criticizing that, he finishes off by requesting a new proposal by Monday.
The only reason why the layout was badly done was because I was following the request he had shared with me during our consultation.
The bed in the main bedroom was faced a certain way because he didn't have any empty walls left, the other walls were either had doors, windows or wardrobe, the last item he had requested a lot of in that very small room, so I didn't really have much room to play around with.
Another bed in another room was also compromised because it literally didn't have enough space for the bed to fit anywhere else, he wanted to fit a queen size bed in a room that barely had space for it and he tells me it was positioned badly.
The kitchen is empty because he had requested to do minimal cabinetry, he literally told me he didn't want both walls to have cabinets because he was afraid it was going to be too cramp, and then now he tells me my proposal looks strange to only have one wall of cabinets.
The problem I have when clients talk to me via text messages is my inability to recognize the tone they are using, with this particular client, when he shared all his comments with me, it just felt like he was being a prick about it and then the finaldemand request to have the new proposal be done on Monday was just the cherry on top of the rotten cake.
My impression of him just plummeted after the text messages and I have no interest working with someone who is nice in person but a complete prick via messages, had a couple who was also like this for one of my past projects, really nice people in person, able to have great conversations with them, but absolutely hated working for them because of how nit-picky and difficult they both were. Well, this current one will only get his keys in June, so he isn't in a rush, I, on the other hand, am contemplating to leave and look for a new job in the middle of the year, maybe after going for one more company trip in June. If I for some reason end up taking on his project, then it will only be a repeat of what happened during my last attempt to leave, companies being unwilling to hire me because my notice period is too long, so now it's really a matter of making him turn me down.
I spoke to my insurance agent a few days ago and he was also surprised to see me still working in the same place because I have told him multiple times over the past 2 years that I am planning to leave the company soon to find a much more stable job. I am not financially struggling, but I am also not saving anything with my current state of income, everything that I earn, every big cheque that I get every 3 to 4 months is only able to cover what I spend over the last few months and it is very worrying considering the fact that I do plan to get an apartment when I hit 35, that is my long term goal.
When I gave up looking for a new job and stayed in this career path, I told myself that it was possible to make this work, to not be so picky with my clients and just try and get as many projects as possible, but then I meet clients like the one I just talked about and the one I blogged about previously and it just doesn't feel like a very viable option because I know working for those clients, especially Mr & Mrs Tee, will induce an unprecedented level of stress that I will not be able to handle.
I enjoy the creative aspect of my job a lot, that's why I have been working for as long as I have in this line even though it isn't working out for me financially, but I don't think I can waste anymore time lingering around now that I will be hitting 30 in a few months. I am slowly passing my peak period of companies willing to hire me because I am "still young and have potential to grow".
A few days ago, I also met some of my ex-colleagues from bakery for a get together and one of the first things my friend ask me was...
... and I didn't realize I had dark circles until she brought it up to me and that was when I realize that work has really been getting too stressful for me. Even though I am not required to be in the office 70% of the time, I am still constantly in work mode, even as I am writing this post, I am anticipating a text from my clients or sub-contractor, there really isn't any down time for me except during the holidays when clients would also have the decency to leave me alone and let me breathe a little or when I do not have any projects to run, which then makes me feel like I am not doing anything productive and am wasting my time because no projects equates to no income.
I do have to make actual career changes before it is too late and it has to happen this year, I don't do New Year's Resolution, but I will make this year an exception, my New Year's Resolution for 2020 is to finally leave my current company and look for a career that offers financial stability.
When I first met this new client, he actually reminded me of my very first client because they had similar facial features and so I felt immediately comfortable talking to him.
During the consultation, he was relatively easy to talk to, his wife was also present and they shared all their requirements with me and honestly everything went pretty well, and then they told me that their apartment was located in Punggol and that was when I felt like this project suddenly wasn't worth my time anymore.
But I decided to not turn it down so quickly and attempt to give it a shot, I can handle having a project at an inconvenient location once in a while, it is fine. I did up a space planning proposal, prepared a quotation and emailed him the quotation a few days later, he responds almost immediately and thanks me for the quote but not before asking me to send him some mock ups because if it was just the quotation, he couldn't really base it off anything, I then told him I would be able to let him see a rough 3D in person, but I wasn't going to be able to actually send him any softcopy to refer to because I am not going to just let a non-paying customer get copies of my 3D drawings so they can just take my work and have a contractor do it for a cheaper fee. He was still pretty insistent on having something to see, so I begrudgingly agreed to sent him a copy of the space planning proposal.
About 2 hours later, he creates a group chat with his wife and adds me into it, which I thought was great because it is not a very common occurrence for a client to immediately open a group chat to discuss, normally this only happens when a client is interested to engage me for my services, but right after the initial...
"Hi Tim..."
... he just started criticizing my initial space planning proposal, telling me how bad the layout was, how he didn't like the way the bed was place, how the kitchen felt strange because it looked really empty and of course the complaint about the price being on the higher side.
I was immediately turned off because I felt like he was very tactless with the way he was phrasing his words, the main feedback I got from that wall of text he send over was that I did a poor job with the space planning and then after criticizing that, he finishes off by requesting a new proposal by Monday.
The only reason why the layout was badly done was because I was following the request he had shared with me during our consultation.
The bed in the main bedroom was faced a certain way because he didn't have any empty walls left, the other walls were either had doors, windows or wardrobe, the last item he had requested a lot of in that very small room, so I didn't really have much room to play around with.
Another bed in another room was also compromised because it literally didn't have enough space for the bed to fit anywhere else, he wanted to fit a queen size bed in a room that barely had space for it and he tells me it was positioned badly.
The kitchen is empty because he had requested to do minimal cabinetry, he literally told me he didn't want both walls to have cabinets because he was afraid it was going to be too cramp, and then now he tells me my proposal looks strange to only have one wall of cabinets.
The problem I have when clients talk to me via text messages is my inability to recognize the tone they are using, with this particular client, when he shared all his comments with me, it just felt like he was being a prick about it and then the final
My impression of him just plummeted after the text messages and I have no interest working with someone who is nice in person but a complete prick via messages, had a couple who was also like this for one of my past projects, really nice people in person, able to have great conversations with them, but absolutely hated working for them because of how nit-picky and difficult they both were. Well, this current one will only get his keys in June, so he isn't in a rush, I, on the other hand, am contemplating to leave and look for a new job in the middle of the year, maybe after going for one more company trip in June. If I for some reason end up taking on his project, then it will only be a repeat of what happened during my last attempt to leave, companies being unwilling to hire me because my notice period is too long, so now it's really a matter of making him turn me down.
I spoke to my insurance agent a few days ago and he was also surprised to see me still working in the same place because I have told him multiple times over the past 2 years that I am planning to leave the company soon to find a much more stable job. I am not financially struggling, but I am also not saving anything with my current state of income, everything that I earn, every big cheque that I get every 3 to 4 months is only able to cover what I spend over the last few months and it is very worrying considering the fact that I do plan to get an apartment when I hit 35, that is my long term goal.
When I gave up looking for a new job and stayed in this career path, I told myself that it was possible to make this work, to not be so picky with my clients and just try and get as many projects as possible, but then I meet clients like the one I just talked about and the one I blogged about previously and it just doesn't feel like a very viable option because I know working for those clients, especially Mr & Mrs Tee, will induce an unprecedented level of stress that I will not be able to handle.
I enjoy the creative aspect of my job a lot, that's why I have been working for as long as I have in this line even though it isn't working out for me financially, but I don't think I can waste anymore time lingering around now that I will be hitting 30 in a few months. I am slowly passing my peak period of companies willing to hire me because I am "still young and have potential to grow".
A few days ago, I also met some of my ex-colleagues from bakery for a get together and one of the first things my friend ask me was...
"Are you getting enough sleep? Your dark circles look quite bad."
... and I didn't realize I had dark circles until she brought it up to me and that was when I realize that work has really been getting too stressful for me. Even though I am not required to be in the office 70% of the time, I am still constantly in work mode, even as I am writing this post, I am anticipating a text from my clients or sub-contractor, there really isn't any down time for me except during the holidays when clients would also have the decency to leave me alone and let me breathe a little or when I do not have any projects to run, which then makes me feel like I am not doing anything productive and am wasting my time because no projects equates to no income.
I do have to make actual career changes before it is too late and it has to happen this year, I don't do New Year's Resolution, but I will make this year an exception, my New Year's Resolution for 2020 is to finally leave my current company and look for a career that offers financial stability.
Tuesday, 24 December 2019
The Two Brick Walls
Had an appointment with a brand new client today who had actually requested for me specifically when he called the company to schedule an appointment.
When I first received the call from the client, I was in the toilet taking a dump, which has got to be some sort of sign of how shitty this whole project will be. He requested to meet the next day, and I was agreeable to it, I also asked him which of my previous customer had referred me to him, and he told me he came across one of my customer's testimonial through one of the renovation portal online.
The last time someone found me through that means, I ended up having to reject the client because of how incredibly stubborn she was, it was impossible to work with her.
Well, this new client is EXACTLY the same and I'll be damned if I actually take on the project.
So prior to the meeting, I had already arranged with my colleague that I will cover the morning shift and he will take the afternoon shift because I had Christmas dinner at home to attend to at around 6.30pm. The appointment with this client, whom I shall refer to Mr Tee, was scheduled at 3.30pm, I was expecting the consultation to last maybe an hour tops and I would be on my way.
3.30pm comes, and he is nowhere to be seen, so at 3.45pm, I send him a text, but he doesn't respond, and after 30 minutes of waiting, as I was planning to give him a call to let him know that I wasn't going to be available anymore because I already have plans, he struts into the showroom accompanied with his wife, who looked a little displease.
Mr Tee then starts lamenting to me about how difficult it was to find parking near my office and his wife was visibly annoyed as he was complaining about having to park so far away just to see me, which just brought me back to the time I met Jenny and Jonny, except then, it was Jonny, the husband, who was the one was who very upset about being unable to find parking.
Making the connection between them and J&J was a horrible start.
So the consultation starts, I get a copy of Mr Tee's floorplan and we started running through the space planning and as we were talking, I could sense a great deal of hostility coming from Mrs Tee, who was obviously still very annoyed by the fact that she had to walk such a great distance earlier. She was very impatient during first part of the consultation, every time I tried to explain certain things and she did not understand my advice, she would just stare at me with this very annoyed look on her face, and I would have to explain it to her again until she finally gets it and moves on to the next thing to get upset about.
This went on for about 5 minutes until I finally had enough of her attitude and became really annoyed with her when she couldn't understand what I was saying, I would just look at her after I have explained myself and give her this incredulous look, an expression of...
.... and she slowly backed down a bit because bitch I am not here for you to be annoyed at, you guys were half an hour late, so don't give me a fucking attitude just because you didn't know where to find a space to park.
When I first saw her giving me the attitude at the start, I had already made up my mind that I was not going to allow them to engage me because I have zero interest to run their project for them. First impression is extremely important to me, if you show your cunt-ness even before we have introduced ourselves, you are out!
But anyways, after Mrs Tee finally put her attitude in check, we were able to have a proper consultation session that lasted way too long for a project I didn't want to take on.
Aside from the attitude problem I was receiving from Mrs Tee, another factor that just made me shirk away from the idea of running this project is the fact that Mr & Mrs Tee are both insanely stubborn individuals who did not think the advice I was sharing with them as an Interior Designer, who has been working in this industry for 3 years, meant anything.
I told them some of the works they were requesting were not possible because it was either not safe or just straight up impossible to be done, such attempting to switch the toilet bowl position with the sink, but they were do insistent on doing it, telling me...
... based on what? It can be done because you, a layman who has no expertise in the construction field, said it can be done even though I, the professional, am constantly telling you it can't be done? I was so close to telling them to fuck off and find someone else to do their project if they were so insistent to do things their way, but was able to control the urge, and then when they asked me how much certain items were, and I shared the prices with them, the husband just stares at me, rest his arm on the table, leans in and goes...
.... in an almost confrontational tone and I was so pissed off I just told him straight to his face...
When I first received the call from the client, I was in the toilet taking a dump, which has got to be some sort of sign of how shitty this whole project will be. He requested to meet the next day, and I was agreeable to it, I also asked him which of my previous customer had referred me to him, and he told me he came across one of my customer's testimonial through one of the renovation portal online.
The last time someone found me through that means, I ended up having to reject the client because of how incredibly stubborn she was, it was impossible to work with her.
Well, this new client is EXACTLY the same and I'll be damned if I actually take on the project.
So prior to the meeting, I had already arranged with my colleague that I will cover the morning shift and he will take the afternoon shift because I had Christmas dinner at home to attend to at around 6.30pm. The appointment with this client, whom I shall refer to Mr Tee, was scheduled at 3.30pm, I was expecting the consultation to last maybe an hour tops and I would be on my way.
3.30pm comes, and he is nowhere to be seen, so at 3.45pm, I send him a text, but he doesn't respond, and after 30 minutes of waiting, as I was planning to give him a call to let him know that I wasn't going to be available anymore because I already have plans, he struts into the showroom accompanied with his wife, who looked a little displease.
Mr Tee then starts lamenting to me about how difficult it was to find parking near my office and his wife was visibly annoyed as he was complaining about having to park so far away just to see me, which just brought me back to the time I met Jenny and Jonny, except then, it was Jonny, the husband, who was the one was who very upset about being unable to find parking.
Making the connection between them and J&J was a horrible start.
So the consultation starts, I get a copy of Mr Tee's floorplan and we started running through the space planning and as we were talking, I could sense a great deal of hostility coming from Mrs Tee, who was obviously still very annoyed by the fact that she had to walk such a great distance earlier. She was very impatient during first part of the consultation, every time I tried to explain certain things and she did not understand my advice, she would just stare at me with this very annoyed look on her face, and I would have to explain it to her again until she finally gets it and moves on to the next thing to get upset about.
This went on for about 5 minutes until I finally had enough of her attitude and became really annoyed with her when she couldn't understand what I was saying, I would just look at her after I have explained myself and give her this incredulous look, an expression of...
"HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU ARE SO FUCKING DENSE?"
.... and she slowly backed down a bit because bitch I am not here for you to be annoyed at, you guys were half an hour late, so don't give me a fucking attitude just because you didn't know where to find a space to park.
When I first saw her giving me the attitude at the start, I had already made up my mind that I was not going to allow them to engage me because I have zero interest to run their project for them. First impression is extremely important to me, if you show your cunt-ness even before we have introduced ourselves, you are out!
But anyways, after Mrs Tee finally put her attitude in check, we were able to have a proper consultation session that lasted way too long for a project I didn't want to take on.
Aside from the attitude problem I was receiving from Mrs Tee, another factor that just made me shirk away from the idea of running this project is the fact that Mr & Mrs Tee are both insanely stubborn individuals who did not think the advice I was sharing with them as an Interior Designer, who has been working in this industry for 3 years, meant anything.
I told them some of the works they were requesting were not possible because it was either not safe or just straight up impossible to be done, such attempting to switch the toilet bowl position with the sink, but they were do insistent on doing it, telling me...
"It can be done!"
... based on what? It can be done because you, a layman who has no expertise in the construction field, said it can be done even though I, the professional, am constantly telling you it can't be done? I was so close to telling them to fuck off and find someone else to do their project if they were so insistent to do things their way, but was able to control the urge, and then when they asked me how much certain items were, and I shared the prices with them, the husband just stares at me, rest his arm on the table, leans in and goes...
"Why is it so expensive? The space I have is very small and we need this to be done, but you are charging me so much for it!"
.... in an almost confrontational tone and I was so pissed off I just told him straight to his face...
"I am simply sharing the price with you! You asked me how much it cost and I am telling you how much it cost! I am not forcing you to do any of these works, you are the one who is requesting for it, if you think it is too expensive, then don't do it!"
... and Mr Tee slowly takes his arms off the table and leans back into his chair.
Mrs Tee then offered alternative suggestions that weren't feasible and I was so bloody frustrated trying to explain why her way wouldn't work, but she kept insisting it could be done, and after a while, she also does the same thing as Mr Tee, telling me...
.... I wanted to punch her in the fucking throat! It's not my fault the developer decided to give you a badly design toilet, why the fuck are you taking it out on me? So I told her in a very exasperated tone...
... but she was still very stubborn, so in order to move the conversation along because I was already late for my Christmas dinner, I told them I will ask my contractor if what she requested can be done, which honestly I don't think I would because I already know the answer from them is going to be, and even if by some Christmas Miracle, they tell me it can be done, I will still tell Mrs Tee it can't be done because I am not about to make my services more attractive for them to consider engaging me.
"But my space is already so small and you are telling me that it can't be done, then you tell me what to do? Where to put all my accessories in the toilet? You tell me! "
.... I wanted to punch her in the fucking throat! It's not my fault the developer decided to give you a badly design toilet, why the fuck are you taking it out on me? So I told her in a very exasperated tone...
"THIS IS THE WAY YOUR TOILET IS BUILT! I have no control over how your developer decided to design your toilet"
... but she was still very stubborn, so in order to move the conversation along because I was already late for my Christmas dinner, I told them I will ask my contractor if what she requested can be done, which honestly I don't think I would because I already know the answer from them is going to be, and even if by some Christmas Miracle, they tell me it can be done, I will still tell Mrs Tee it can't be done because I am not about to make my services more attractive for them to consider engaging me.
I was planning to leave the office at 5.00pm the latest, but I ended up leaving at 6.30pm because I spend so much time talking to 2 brick walls. I told them I will prepare a quotation for them within a week, but I don't really want to bother, it just feels so pointless. I will most likely just charge them an exuberant amount for a lot of items to scare them off and that is it.
Right now the calculated figure is at $80,000, which is honestly insanely high for the works they want to do, but that's really the whole point so fingers crossed that they will get scared off by the price and go elsewhere, bypass all the price negotiations with me and be like that last customer who wasted my time.
Right now the calculated figure is at $80,000, which is honestly insanely high for the works they want to do, but that's really the whole point so fingers crossed that they will get scared off by the price and go elsewhere, bypass all the price negotiations with me and be like that last customer who wasted my time.
Friday, 22 November 2019
Wasting time again....
Another day, another client who doesn't know how to respond to messages.
I met a couple a few days ago and they were requesting to renovation their new condo apartment, we had a very good chat and I thought we hit it off really well, but I was not interested in the project in the slightest because it is located all the way in Punggol and I have told myself I will never touch a Punggol project again.
I told the clients I will prepare a quotation and send it to them 3 days later, but I really didn't want to so I just left it alone and did not bother with it, that and also because I was pretty busy with my current on-going projects so I did not have time to really sit down and calculate all the cost for them.
So the third day comes and it was around evening when the wife messaged me asking if I had already send the quotation her way, I didn't even prepare one so I told her I will send it to her the next day as I had been pretty busy, which was the truth, so she was agreeable to it and I got down to preparing the quote the very next day and send it her way, which probably only took me 20 minutes to prepare. It's not about the quotation taking a long time to do, it's about getting in the mood to actually do the math for it.
She responded back very quickly, informing me that she had gotten the quote, asking me if I could send her some designs because she wanted to know what I was proposing, I never ever send out my proposals to non-paying clients, especially not to clients I have only met once because it's my design proposal, I am not about to let you take my proposal and pass it off to someone else to do. I do get this request a lot and it is just really frustrating to have to constantly repeat myself to different people.
I told her I won't be giving her a design proposal but I can prepare one for her to see in person if she was interested, then I told her I could prepare a 3D draft and she was agreeable to it, soon after that, she starts to ask me about the quote and goes....
.... and I will admit, I did charge her a little higher than normal because her project is located all the way in Punggol, if I am not earning a decent amount of profit from it to cover the inconvenience of me having to travel all the way there on an almost daily basis once the renovation starts, there is no way I am going to be taking this project, but the particular item that she pointed out was not something that I had charged an exuberant amount of money for. I tried to explain to her why it was priced the way it was, wrote out this entire chunk of text, send it her way and she just stops responding after that.
Now I am not sure if she still wants to meet up or not and this is what is really irritating about being placed in a situation like this by the customers.
I propose to prepare a proposal for us to run through in person.
You express your interest in such an arrangement
I take that interest as confirmation to prepare said proposal
You bring up an issue with the price and suddenly stop responding
I take that unresponsiveness as a lost in interest
So does this lost in interest overwrite the confirmation to meet again to run through the design proposal?
I will still do the SketchUp because I like doing SketchUp, it keeps me distracted from my ongoing projects and also gives me something to do at the office, if she and her husband decides to confirm the appointment with me later in the week to meet up then great, if not, then I will just add her to the list of time-wasting clients I have met.
Speaking of time wasting client, I also had another one a few weeks back, writing in to request for a quotation, sharing with me that they are on a budget and needed to stick to that budget, but then requesting a plethora of works that were clearly out of their budget. Even after advising them that it was impossible, they still insisted to keep to their budget and requested a quotation, asking me to list out different options for them,
It is extremely frustrating when a client who cannot afford the my services request for me to list out options for them in the quotation because that means more calculations for me to do, more time for me to have to put into preparing their quotation, all for what? So that once they see the quote, they will stop replying, because that is exactly what this time waster did.
You don't give us your unrealistic requirements and expect us to work your requirements around your unrealistic budget, you either do less to stick to the budget, or you pay more to stick to the requirements, you don't pay less and expect to do more, it makes no fucking sense because the last time I check in the mirror, all I saw was a face full of zits, not a pink fucking elephant who goes by the name of Sharity.
I met a couple a few days ago and they were requesting to renovation their new condo apartment, we had a very good chat and I thought we hit it off really well, but I was not interested in the project in the slightest because it is located all the way in Punggol and I have told myself I will never touch a Punggol project again.
I told the clients I will prepare a quotation and send it to them 3 days later, but I really didn't want to so I just left it alone and did not bother with it, that and also because I was pretty busy with my current on-going projects so I did not have time to really sit down and calculate all the cost for them.
So the third day comes and it was around evening when the wife messaged me asking if I had already send the quotation her way, I didn't even prepare one so I told her I will send it to her the next day as I had been pretty busy, which was the truth, so she was agreeable to it and I got down to preparing the quote the very next day and send it her way, which probably only took me 20 minutes to prepare. It's not about the quotation taking a long time to do, it's about getting in the mood to actually do the math for it.
She responded back very quickly, informing me that she had gotten the quote, asking me if I could send her some designs because she wanted to know what I was proposing, I never ever send out my proposals to non-paying clients, especially not to clients I have only met once because it's my design proposal, I am not about to let you take my proposal and pass it off to someone else to do. I do get this request a lot and it is just really frustrating to have to constantly repeat myself to different people.
I told her I won't be giving her a design proposal but I can prepare one for her to see in person if she was interested, then I told her I could prepare a 3D draft and she was agreeable to it, soon after that, she starts to ask me about the quote and goes....
"I notice that the cabinets are quite expensive."
.... and I will admit, I did charge her a little higher than normal because her project is located all the way in Punggol, if I am not earning a decent amount of profit from it to cover the inconvenience of me having to travel all the way there on an almost daily basis once the renovation starts, there is no way I am going to be taking this project, but the particular item that she pointed out was not something that I had charged an exuberant amount of money for. I tried to explain to her why it was priced the way it was, wrote out this entire chunk of text, send it her way and she just stops responding after that.
Now I am not sure if she still wants to meet up or not and this is what is really irritating about being placed in a situation like this by the customers.
I propose to prepare a proposal for us to run through in person.
You express your interest in such an arrangement
I take that interest as confirmation to prepare said proposal
You bring up an issue with the price and suddenly stop responding
I take that unresponsiveness as a lost in interest
So does this lost in interest overwrite the confirmation to meet again to run through the design proposal?
I will still do the SketchUp because I like doing SketchUp, it keeps me distracted from my ongoing projects and also gives me something to do at the office, if she and her husband decides to confirm the appointment with me later in the week to meet up then great, if not, then I will just add her to the list of time-wasting clients I have met.
Speaking of time wasting client, I also had another one a few weeks back, writing in to request for a quotation, sharing with me that they are on a budget and needed to stick to that budget, but then requesting a plethora of works that were clearly out of their budget. Even after advising them that it was impossible, they still insisted to keep to their budget and requested a quotation, asking me to list out different options for them,
It is extremely frustrating when a client who cannot afford the my services request for me to list out options for them in the quotation because that means more calculations for me to do, more time for me to have to put into preparing their quotation, all for what? So that once they see the quote, they will stop replying, because that is exactly what this time waster did.
You don't give us your unrealistic requirements and expect us to work your requirements around your unrealistic budget, you either do less to stick to the budget, or you pay more to stick to the requirements, you don't pay less and expect to do more, it makes no fucking sense because the last time I check in the mirror, all I saw was a face full of zits, not a pink fucking elephant who goes by the name of Sharity.
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