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ragequit 2.0
13 years ago
There are a couple of 'ragequit' topics in here. They have been separated by a line of '--' for your convenience.
Client Phonecall
To give some context, this is in regards to some event photography I did a few weeks ago.
It was agreed on the night that I would be paid an hourly wage- 2 hours, spent on the night. There was not an agreed minimum number of photos, nor was it agreed that I would do any edits. ...... But then I did an extra 39 hours worth of FREE work on the photos to get rid of saggy-bits, wrinkles and pot-bellies, simply because I liked the client and wanted her to be happy with the way she looked in them, rather than looking at them and only seeing the signs of aging. 39 hours. Keep this in mind when you read the following:
*Phone rings*
ME: Hey, whats up? :)
Client: ……*sad voice-tremble*……………
ME: Hello? Client?
Client: The package you sent arrived in the mail. My sister-in-law opened it and saw the photos... and she wasn't happy.
ME: What exactly didn't she like about them?
Client: ... She thinks they were all unedited, there where only 30 of them and not worth the money....
ME: Do you think that?
Client: I don't know. I haven't seen them.
ME:... Wait a sec, did you just say 30?? There where over a hundred.
I don't even. :|
I would have paid someone NOT to have had to do that gig, if it meant getting out of the convo that followed. We agreed that the disk was damaged, as only 30/119 photos where showing up, so i'm re-sending via drop box and sending a second CD to be safe. Apparently they where showing up in sepia (I have no idea!?). I assured her that this isn't how it is appearing on my end, and that I will be sending a second copy incase it was damaged- Even then, I have no idea how it would delete 80 photos and turn the remaining ones sepia.. I have serious concerns that this person is just trying to get the photos for free.
The housemate who threw a curve-ball
To add to the mindfuckery that is my life this week, my housemate told me today that she is going to India! Cool! :D
She then added that she used her $900 share of rent money to pay for the flights, and basically left it up to me for either pull $900 out of my ass, or find a trustworthy replacement housemate by the 13th who just happens to have $900 laying around to pay for rent in the next 6 weeks! To make matters worse, she announced this knowing FULL WELL that my partner and I will be in a different state for 6 weeks on holidays (while still paying rent as usual, as most normal responsible adults do!)... So even if I do get a new housemate, that means leaving a complete stranger alone in my house, with all of my things for over a month. (I'm betting that I'll come home to a trashed house, with all of my stuff stolen and sold!)
University mindfuckery
Nearly done! Time to rant about Uni...
I was 2% off a High Distinction for my topic- Putting me at 83%... You need at least 50% to pass.. Exams are only worth 30%. It seems like i'm safe, right? Nope! Apparently my 83% dropped to a 48%??? I don't even. That can't be right.
I'm going to the University tomorrow to talk to the counselor to try to work out whats going on. If it isn't an error, i'm going to see if I can just do an essay instead of the exam. My mind is filled with too much fuck to study 24 weeks worth of revision in one week with everything else affecting my ability to study.
RIP, my furbuddy will be missed.
Last off, my amazing, beautiful, bizarre cat was hit by a car in the wee hours of a Friday morning. I didn't get to see the body, as it was removed right after the incident, so I initially had no way of knowing it was him. I only found out because I was looking for him in the 'lost and found' ads, and I found a report from someone who hit a cat matching his description only a few doors down from my house on the same day he went missing. I was hoping that the report was about a different cat, but it's been 2 weeks and he isn't home. I haven't told many people. It took me nearly 2 weeks just to tell my family, I just didn't want to spread the sad news and then come home to see him lazing on my couch.
Last night I had a dream that he waddled into the house, seriously overweight because someone thought he was a stray, took him in, and overfed him. I kept pinching myself in my dream, because I was so happy that I thought it couldn't be real.
... I now know without a doubt that pinching doesn't actually work. I was so certain that it was real until I woke up.
RIP, Zee. 2006 - 16/oct/2012
Client Phonecall
To give some context, this is in regards to some event photography I did a few weeks ago.
It was agreed on the night that I would be paid an hourly wage- 2 hours, spent on the night. There was not an agreed minimum number of photos, nor was it agreed that I would do any edits. ...... But then I did an extra 39 hours worth of FREE work on the photos to get rid of saggy-bits, wrinkles and pot-bellies, simply because I liked the client and wanted her to be happy with the way she looked in them, rather than looking at them and only seeing the signs of aging. 39 hours. Keep this in mind when you read the following:
*Phone rings*
ME: Hey, whats up? :)
Client: ……*sad voice-tremble*……………
ME: Hello? Client?
Client: The package you sent arrived in the mail. My sister-in-law opened it and saw the photos... and she wasn't happy.
ME: What exactly didn't she like about them?
Client: ... She thinks they were all unedited, there where only 30 of them and not worth the money....
ME: Do you think that?
Client: I don't know. I haven't seen them.
ME:... Wait a sec, did you just say 30?? There where over a hundred.
I don't even. :|
I would have paid someone NOT to have had to do that gig, if it meant getting out of the convo that followed. We agreed that the disk was damaged, as only 30/119 photos where showing up, so i'm re-sending via drop box and sending a second CD to be safe. Apparently they where showing up in sepia (I have no idea!?). I assured her that this isn't how it is appearing on my end, and that I will be sending a second copy incase it was damaged- Even then, I have no idea how it would delete 80 photos and turn the remaining ones sepia.. I have serious concerns that this person is just trying to get the photos for free.
The housemate who threw a curve-ball
To add to the mindfuckery that is my life this week, my housemate told me today that she is going to India! Cool! :D
She then added that she used her $900 share of rent money to pay for the flights, and basically left it up to me for either pull $900 out of my ass, or find a trustworthy replacement housemate by the 13th who just happens to have $900 laying around to pay for rent in the next 6 weeks! To make matters worse, she announced this knowing FULL WELL that my partner and I will be in a different state for 6 weeks on holidays (while still paying rent as usual, as most normal responsible adults do!)... So even if I do get a new housemate, that means leaving a complete stranger alone in my house, with all of my things for over a month. (I'm betting that I'll come home to a trashed house, with all of my stuff stolen and sold!)
University mindfuckery
Nearly done! Time to rant about Uni...
I was 2% off a High Distinction for my topic- Putting me at 83%... You need at least 50% to pass.. Exams are only worth 30%. It seems like i'm safe, right? Nope! Apparently my 83% dropped to a 48%??? I don't even. That can't be right.
I'm going to the University tomorrow to talk to the counselor to try to work out whats going on. If it isn't an error, i'm going to see if I can just do an essay instead of the exam. My mind is filled with too much fuck to study 24 weeks worth of revision in one week with everything else affecting my ability to study.
RIP, my furbuddy will be missed.
Last off, my amazing, beautiful, bizarre cat was hit by a car in the wee hours of a Friday morning. I didn't get to see the body, as it was removed right after the incident, so I initially had no way of knowing it was him. I only found out because I was looking for him in the 'lost and found' ads, and I found a report from someone who hit a cat matching his description only a few doors down from my house on the same day he went missing. I was hoping that the report was about a different cat, but it's been 2 weeks and he isn't home. I haven't told many people. It took me nearly 2 weeks just to tell my family, I just didn't want to spread the sad news and then come home to see him lazing on my couch.
Last night I had a dream that he waddled into the house, seriously overweight because someone thought he was a stray, took him in, and overfed him. I kept pinching myself in my dream, because I was so happy that I thought it couldn't be real.
... I now know without a doubt that pinching doesn't actually work. I was so certain that it was real until I woke up.
RIP, Zee. 2006 - 16/oct/2012
At this point I am just wildly confused and angry. I could take these things on one at a time, two at a time, no sweat. But all at once? I'm just about ready to snap. :P
Keeping my mind on studying is currently proving to be difficult.
As to the room mate, are they moving to india, or just going there for a visit? if it's just a visit, they need to come up with the money before leaving, or they shouldn't have a place to come back to. :| Regardless, that's still BS.
Nope. Not going to happen.
The funny thing is, she is studying her Honers in Economics.... You would think she would be more financially prepared than this. u_u
She literally told us "The only way I can afford this trip is if I don't pay rent"- AFTER she already booked the tickets without even talking to us about it. Urg.
Goodluck on solving the issues you face :<
*hugs again*
My current housemate broke the lease and eats our food without replacing it with new groceries (she hasn't done a proper grocery shop-up in a while. I don't think she has ever pitched in for bread or tp.) We have gone well out of our way to make things easy for her- paying for a significant amount of her food, paying for all of her furniture, helping her move in, cooking her dinner, ect.
Despite all of the frustration, she's still probably the easiest housemate I've had to live with. u____u
....thing is, he's getting kicked out soon.
So I went on Craigslist and found a 4-bedroom house with a room for rent for $100 a week.
I'm sure the University thing will work out, It was probably just a mistake on the Professor's part or something like that. I can't think of any other reason the grade would change so drastically.
As for your housemate, do you have a signed Lease or something together? My BFF Up in Virginia owns a house and rents rooms to people and had a REALLY messed up situation happen recently, and I helped her through that. Honestly if it is on paper that you two are renting the house, apartment where ever you live with her, then she HAS to pay the Last Months Rent. If there is no contract, then yeah, that is kinda bad. And Having helped my friend out with her Tenant issues I know how hard it is to find trustworthy people. IMO I would just wait until you got back from your Holiday to get someone in there. Seeing as your room mate now needs to cough up the rent. Period. That is completely inexcusable.
The photo client thing..Ugh..I can;t stand people that do that crap. It happens to Juin and I a LOT. And a different friend of mine who is trying to become a professional photographer has had to deal with clients that are like that in the past. It's sad, but in almost every occurrence when we try and do a little extra for people to be nice, it just doesn't matter, because cynical as this sounds, people when it comes to things like that, just aren't nice.
Juin helped one of his Neighbors Move, mind you the guy said he would pay him $50-$75, the day came and he had to move a couple hundred lbs of these crates full of tools, there were dozens of them at over 100lbs a piece, into one truck, then drive to a different area with the actual moving truck, un-load and reload again. (the leasing agent wouldn't let him park the large cross country truck in our parking lot so he had to park it down the road and get a smaller rental truck)
Anyway, Juin was the ONLY one helping along with this guy;s son. It took them forever since we are on the second floor, and the guy when asked about payment LITERALLY said "Oh I had hopped you had forgotten about that" The fucked uped ness...Ugh!
People can be dicks when it comes to things being done in a helpful way. They either expect you to do it for free, or if they DO say they'll pay you, they want to either weasel out of it, or not pay at all. It;s just the way things are, and it sucks and is really sad. You take pride in your work, and wanted to do something nice and they are just being idiots. Stand your ground, Let them know how much extra work you put into it, even show them the pics before and after if the get uppity. Or just demand the pics back if they refuse to pay. It;s harsh, but it helps prevent you from being walked all over by people who obviously don;t see or appreciate what you have done for them.
As for you little furry friend, I am so deeply sorry. It is never easy to lose a furry loved one. I hope you can find a way to heal. And at least you got a dream where you could see Him one last time to say goodbye.
Sorry if I seem Ranty, I have just seen stuff like this happening to friends over and over and it make me angry to see them being treated so poorly, or befalling hard times.
I do hope everything works out
I'm going to see if I can sort out the Uni stuff- I am fairly sure it was a mistake, but I might still have to retake the exam. I'm going to try to see if I can do an essay instead.
The housemate signed a lease. So technically she automatically forfeits all of the bond money and is legally obligated to pay up until we get a new tenant in, including all advertising and cleaning costs. If there wasn't any lease she would legally have to give a minimum of 6 weeks notice (she gave 13 days).
My boyfriend and I agreed that we would just take the bond and let her out of paying rent- She didn't like this and tried to argue her way out of it, saying things like "I know I signed a lease and all, but I thought it was casual." (I have no idea how she thought 13 days notice was acceptable). It's especially frustrating, because she would have had to know that she was going overseas for MONTHS, and she had ample time to give us proper notice. In my eyes, we are being more than generous by keeping the bond and giving her back her 1 week in advance rent. (She was quite vocal about her disapproval of not getting her entire bond back).
I have two options at the moment:
a) get someone in who I trust won't steal my things
b) pay $900 extra and wait until I get back.
Wow, how shit is that about Juin. Lucky for be this client has already paid, but I suspect they are going to argue for a refund (despite the photos being great, considering they where shot in their garage! I would use some in my folio if I was allowed to.) She has had the pics for over a 24 hours now, and she still hasn't emailed be back about them. :I Not to mention her sister has had them for around 3 weeks without anyone saying a word to me about it. u_u
I'm just going to have to stick to my guns and tell them that if they want me to re-edit any of the photos they are going to have to pay for it- Since editing was not agreed to in advance, and that I have already done more than enough free work for them.
Your housemate..wow..After her ARGUING about getting her bond back and the "casual lease" Comment I would have made it non-optional...she doesn't get her bond back AND pays the $900, have a nice trip to India. And that's it. But you are being as fair as you can without letting her get away with it which is awesome. I am glad at least you made sure she stuck to the lease.
Commissioners are just weird. If you don't hear word from them by the end of the week, I guess just invoice them for whatever payment is still owed and call it a day. If they said there was something wrong, but not showing you or allowing you to fix it, then what can you do really. Besides just what, trust that their freak out was legit and do it ALL oer again? Send MORE Photos and disks which cost money and time, just because?
-shrugs- IDK about that one. As I said, wait until the end of the week then just ask for whatever payment is owed.
Keep your head high sugar!
I've made an appointment to see a lawyer with her. I don't want to think about it.
With the shit client, they have asked for a free photoshoot and a full refund of the original. This does not please me, so I've told them it's one or the other. I am being more than generous even offering them a free shoot, given how unprofessional they have been.
With Uni, that whole situation has gotten slighly more yucky... It turns out the reason I failed was because the Uni lost one of my reports, and marked me down as a '0' for it. Even if I did shit and only got 50% for that report, it still was more than enough to bump me up to a passing grade. Not pleased about it.
In addition to this, the grades section online was showing up incorrect marks, which effected my study plan. Had I have known this earlier, I would have been able to adjust my study throughout the semester.
It's a while bucket of fuck.
I am glad you are taking your housemate to a Lawyer. She needs to learn responsibility, for serious. You can't just do that to people and expect them to swallow it. And I am SURE she had plans for her bond money for this trip she is going on. Tough breaks for her then!
I personally would have told those clients in a nice way to go fuck themselves. You have done not only the job but ALSO put in countless hours in Photoshop. Were it me with that level of unprofessionalism, I would give them the un-edited copies of the pics and show them how much work you did and tell them to be grateful they HAD such a caring photographer. And I am trying to remember who called you and was bitching you out, but as I recall it wasn't the original client but her sister? Either way, I believe someone aside from the original client is pushing the client to try and get more out of you.
I personally wouldn't do it. The demands they are asking of you are just plan disrespectful to you as a photographer, an artist and a PERSON.
Have you shown them the un-edited pictures? Shown them a side by side? If not before you agree to anything I seriously would. You are an amazing artist, and deserve better treatment. and all this time going to them for free, that could be used in finding a new housemate or trying to fix the Uni's fuck up with your grade.
Ugh it makes me so upset when I see this stuff happening to good people I care about. It happens to my BFF all the time. She has such a hard time with her tenants, and then a harder time at work with people treating her poorly.
I hope it all works out, and keep me posted, or if you just want to talk I think I have you on my MSN or skype. I'm usually around late and early which are the times I think we sync up with our respective time zones. But I got your back, and I believe that you deserve better, as I am sure others do as well. But it's always nice to know you have someone rooting for you :)
I talked to the housemate and we have worked something out. She has left on good terms and ended up agreeing to meet us halfway once we made it clear as to how badly her choices would effect us. Yays! :D
The client has slowly become more and more of a mindfuck to deal with. I'll type one her her recent things she txted me, after she attempted to call me 2-3 times that day from miltiple numbers, despite me explaining that it was strictly written-only for legal reasons:
"I want to talk to you. I am so upset and want a full refund for this. You have ruined my sisters memories and my[i] grandad will be dead soon. Your best intest to transfer the money back ASAP. Word of mouth will really slow things down for you."[/i]- This txt from her sums it up well. It's probably worth mentioning that her grandad had nothing to do with the event, I doubt he was even there. This txt was her reaction to me offering my time to give her a free all-expenses-paid shoot instead of a refund, or to talk to a legal adviser with her in order to work out what was fair for both of us.
I did not respond to this message, as I had been advised not to speak with her until after I have received legal advice.
After she didn't receive a reaction, she txted me threatening to take me to consumer affairs.. A quick browse through the state laws confirmed that I have abided by all standards and was in no risk of loosing if it came to that. It was an open-and-shut case: She approved of the samples. I have remained calm, professional and understanding throughout this saga.
She followed through with her 'word of mouth' threat and has shown the photos to some photographer friend of hers..... although.... She didn't quite seem to get the reaction she was after.
It would seem that her photographer friends disagreed with her on the matter, and suggested that (at most) I just tweak the colours/contrast- Which I agreed to and promptly provided the client with 9 different editing styles to choose from. The client also suggested that I hadn't edited anything at all- To which I showed her the 'before and afters' (in fact, I would love to show you so you can get an idea of the work I put into it and the level of quality, let me know and I'll PM one.)
... Now she has completely changed her tone and has even wished me a happy holiday! A complete and utter mindfuck to deal with.
As for Uni, I studied hard and did excellent on the exam!! :D
Sometimes sticking to your guns and not being afraid of their empty threats or even something as simple as not responding can be VERY hard to do, but you did it!
I sat through 2 HOURS of txts from one of the tenants my friend had as a land lord, and the guy was in his 50s!!!! a good 30 years older then my friend. And he broke the law BIG time, and tried to get her to pay this astronomical bill and threatened to take her to court, but once she said "ok fine I'll meet you at court" he changed his tune REAL quick.
It was hard helping her through that, but she listened to me and the advice form my step-father and was able to prevail.
I am just so happy things with the roommate worked out, that is wonderful.
And again great on you for getting that bitch of a client to eat her words. I just LOVE it when people go to someone they THINK will be on their side and then they are not. Takes the wind RIGHT out of their sails, and you don't even have to do anything!
And congrats on Uni! You really perserviered through this trying situation and I appreciate you taking my advice. I am just so glad things are going better for you, and now you can enjoy your Holiday without having to worry about someone in your home stealing your stuff or wreaking the place :)
And yes the before and afters, I would LOVE to see those. I think you are on my MSN, so If I can't you on I'll give you a shout and you can show me :)