Catherine BabaultMay 28
British photographer wants to book a private photo tour with his wife but thinks that she should come for free because she is not a photographer.
Show threadKimberlyN 🇨🇦

@CatherineBabault

Back in the ‘90s I had a small business writing and designing resumes for people. Most people were happy to have the help, but every once in a while…
There was the guy who asked what he’d get for $10. (The cheapest package I sold started at $50…so umm…nothing.)
And the university student who kept calling me for edits — at 1 am! (Stop that you weirdo.)
Most people are reasonable humans, but some are just clueless. 🤨

May 28 at 1:55amWeb
Show threadCatherine Babault6d ago
@KimberlyN You couldn't get much for $10 back in the '90s, certainly not professional services.
Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@CatherineBabault @KimberlyN I had a client — who’d known me for years before we’d worked together, and who I’d built a small website for — who wanted to pay me with a spaghetti dinner. So, not only food instead of cash, but, like, the least expensive food possible. (She was not strapped for cash, either; maybe this was why.)
Show threadCatherine Babault6d ago

@tantramar lol Seriously?!

@KimberlyN

Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@CatherineBabault @KimberlyN It’s too stupid to make up.
Show threadKimberlyN 🇨🇦6d ago

@tantramar @CatherineBabault

Yup. There’s always a few…and they’re so ridiculous we remember them decades later. 😂

The other ones I’ve learned from are what I call the “carrot danglers.” You know, these are people who try to convince you to give them steep discounts “just this time” because they’re going to bring you a HUGE contract later. Nope. Nopety, nope, nope.

Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@KimberlyN @CatherineBabault Ah, yes, the “carrot” that’s actually a massive red flag. 🥕🚩 Haven’t had any of those in years.
Show threadCatherine Babault6d ago
@KimberlyN @tantramar Never had one of those.
Show threadKimberlyN 🇨🇦6d ago

@CatherineBabault @tantramar

That’s a good thing. When you’re young, ambitious, and inexperienced, a certain kind of client will unabashedly disrespect your time, then promise to bring you untold riches…at some point in the future. Luckily, it doesn’t take long to see the pattern and find ways to head it off at the pass.

Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@KimberlyN @CatherineBabault I haven’t had one of those in a long, long time.
Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@CatherineBabault @KimberlyN (And no, she wasn’t hitting on me; aside from being married, and a 20-year age gap, she also knew my then-partner quite well.)
Show threadCatherine Babault6d ago

@tantramar So, no wine with the dinner, then. ;)

@KimberlyN

Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@CatherineBabault @KimberlyN As that wasn’t going to make or break the deal, I failed to ask. ;) Also, I wasn’t then a wine drinker, so pearls-before-swine at that point. This is 25+ years ago, now.
Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago

@KimberlyN @bonaventuresoft @CatherineBabault Worked for a difficult client through an ad agency in the late-1990s or early 2000s.

The agency rep in the middle of all this was incapable of saying “no” to this (or any?) client, so they’d trained the client to expect virtually unlimited revisions without any changes in either deadlines or cost.

Which is madness.

They actively exercised this power, taking on a throw-more-shit-at-the-wall, I’ll-let-you-know-if-I-like-any-of-it approach to the creative brief.

Which is madness.

I quickly disabused all involved of the notion that I would work this way. In the end, I think everyone was happy with what got delivered.

Show threadCatherine Babault6d ago
@tantramar I wonder if that ad agency is still in business. @KimberlyN @bonaventuresoft
Show threadChris Mackay 🇨🇦6d ago
@CatherineBabault @KimberlyN @bonaventuresoft It is not! Not for close to 20 years, off the top of my head.