We were designing a COVID-related flyer for a client. In the background, there was a picture of a lady that was getting a temperature test.
Client: We like the background, but we don't like the image.
To be clear: the image WAS the background.
My worst client is my mum. She tells me that I have "natural skill" for painting, demanding I take on projects at her at the drop of a hat even though I am working full-time as a designer.
She asked me to do some watercolors for her. I paid for materials, met her to help select reference images, and began painting.
Client: You're doing it wrong.
Me: What?
Client: Here, let me do it.
At this point, she physically took the paintbrush from my hand. She butchered the painting, said it was 10 times better, and proudly displayed it for all of 3 weeks until she threw it out because she didn't like it anymore.
This is in addition to the time that she insisted on keeping a huge abstract piece that I loved and wanted to keep myself. She not only kept the painting against my wishes but painted over a wonderful bright yellow streak that featured in the artwork with cheap gold acrylic paint, to help it "match the living room".
I only paint for myself now.
Applying for UX Design jobs.
Client: The ideal candidate will have At least 10 years of experience in Adobe XD.
Adobe XD came out March 14th, 2016.
Client: I’m not getting my emails anymore.
Me: Talk to your web master.
Client: I wanted to get round them.
Me: Why?
Client: It’s my ex wife.
I work for a real estate developer. We had a client who, when finally decided on a flat to buy, found that the parking spot that they liked had already been bought by another client.
Client: I'm not racist but you sold it to a foreigner rather than to us on purpose so you could sell me a more expensive parking spot and scoop a bigger commission.
Well, do long as you're not racist.
I have a client who submits work orders once a month. He groups them and set staggered deadlines for the groups. Cool enough. He attaches next-to-impossible deadlines to them, as in Group 1, deadline is in 12 hours. Group 2, 24 hours. Group 3, 36 hours.
He blows up if the deadline is missed, but the revision request is always 3 weeks AFTER his deadline because it takes him that long to get to them.
Additionally, he loses about 10 percent of the work I turn in every month. To fix that, I started loading EVERYTHING to Dropbox and just shared the folder with him.
5 days AFTER the last deadline-
Client: I didn't get X, Y, and Z.
Me: They are in Dropbox, as I told you twice.
I'd previously sent 3 screen shots, folder, content and share popup window showing he had editing access. This also had time & date stamps showing when files were dropped. Also, Dropbox always sends an email announcing a shared folder AS WELL AS notifications the folder was edited/changed.
Client: I never got the link. Can you resend?
Me: ...
Client: What kind of paper will you printing on?
Me: I can have some samples delivered to you.
Client: Can you fax it to me?
What's the funniest thing a client has said to you?
A client has had me working for them on a job for over a year and a half now and been a nightmare the entire time. I sent them a bill for expanded scope.
Client: This is not the amount we agreed to! You overcharged us... I am going to be generous, given the hard time you are going through and only request a refund of $901.28, even though the balance is actually much higher. I have sent you a PayPal invoice to pay me back with. Please pay at your earliest convenience.
First time a client has ever asked me to pay them back for work I did.
I work for a distribution company and one of the many things my job involves is organising custom brochures with logos and contact information for the companies we supply to.
I emailed someone today:
Me: Good afternoon, could we please have an up-to-date image of your logo for the latest batch of brochure covers?"
They replied by emailing me a photo of the sign outside their door. At an angle.
I used to work as a wedding videographer for a time. A former great client referred me to one of her friends who was getting married.
I met with the bride and she made what she told me was a great offer.
Client: I work at one at one of the convention centers in the NYC. We hold trade shows there and whenever we do one we hire a videographer to shoot it and then edit together a sizzle reel of the show. I’m the person who hires the videographer and we pay them $400 to do each event. I’ll make you a deal. If you take off $1200 from the price of my wedding package, I will hire you for three of these events and you could make up the $1200 from that.
Me: I'm afraid that isn't really worth it for me. Even if I phoned it in, you are probably looking at well over 2 weeks worth of work to get it done. Why would I agree to do so much more work for the same amount of money?
She became extremely annoyed I would not agree to her offer and didn’t understand why I was turning down such a “great opportunity to get more work”.
I eventually agreed to do her wedding with her paying the entire price herself.
The day of the wedding I was talking to the photographer she hired and he said she tried to pull the same stunt on him.
More work is only a bonus if it also equals more pay. If not, it's just more work.