HOMEPODCAST
SUBMIT STORY

STORY TYPES Most Popular

Classy font bundle for $9 — 94% off! 

This week's deal is on a sophisticated and elegant bundle of fonts, logo templates and graphic elements!

> Each font is gorgeous on its own and dynamite when paired with the other elements in this bundle.

Aiming for that classy, casual chic market? This bundle conjures the best of lifestyle Instagram and Kinfolk magazine, offering glimpses of a life best lived. Perfect for aspirational messaging, this bundle will help you put together breezy, sophisticated designs in a heartbeat.

Normally all the elements in this bundle would retail for $145, but for the next few days you can get its 38 fonts and 100+ elements for just $9 at 94% off. 

> Check out the deal here.

0

I’m a web developer/designer. I have a client that has never paid on time for anything in my history working with him. He’s very well off and is pretentious and arrogant during nearly every encounter.

For most clients, I’m willing to cover the domain renewal and yearly hosting on spec if they’re late because I know that the money is coming and we have a good relationship. This client burned that bridge years ago.

Six weeks before their services renew:

Me: Hello, your annual hosting and domain renewal is due 6 weeks from today. Here’s an invoice for the charge.

Client: (silence)

Five days before their services renew:

Me: Hi. Just a friendly reminder that your services are set to renew on Sunday, five days from today. I haven’t received payment for the hosting or domain yet. If the cheque’s in the mail, that’s great but if not, I can accept an EMT or PayPal to ensure that there’s no interruption to your service.

Client: (silence)

One day before cancellation of service:

Client: I’m on vacation right now. It will have to wait until I’m back in the office on Tuesday.

Me: Hi. Thanks for getting back to me. Unfortunately, everything expires tomorrow and there will be an interruption in service if nothing is settled up before then. I gave six weeks notice of this renewal and didn’t hear anything back.

Client: (silence)

Four days after the website was taken offline due to non-payment:

Client: Why is my website offline?

Me: The website is currently offline because you haven’t paid me yet for hosting or domain renewal. If you can send over an EMT I can get that deposited and get the website back up and running in about 30 minutes.

Client: I’ll send a check.

Me: I’d prefer an electronic money transfer s I’d need to wait for the cheque to arrive and then clear before renewing everything

He’d sent me checks that bounced before.

Client: (silence)

Eleven days after denial of service:

Me: Hi. I still haven’t received your cheque or EMT. Can you give me an update?

Client: I didn’t send it yet.

Me: Why not?

Client: I’ve been busy.

Me: Okay. Well, as soon as you can then.

Two weeks after denial of service, still no money.

Client: WHY IS MY WEBSITE STILL OFFLINE? THIS IS HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL!

Me: Hi. Did you mail the cheque yet?

Client: No!

Me: Well then!

Client: …

Me: You’ve never once paid me on time. The very first time I paid for hosting and domain registration it took you 4 months to pay me. I’m not going to do this on spec.

Client: (silence)

Three weeks after denial of service:

Me: Your domain expiry grace period is in 7 days. After that someone else can buy it up. If you want to send over an EMT for the invoice, I can get everything taken care of for you and get you back up and running.

Client: Fuck you.

I guess that’s the end of that relationship, then.

0

EDITOR'S NOTE: This submission was received several weeks ago. 

 

I work in web development. I m working under contract for an insurance firm that is located in the middle of the Thomas Fire in southern California. The entire area is under voluntary evacuation. IT insists that we can't have remote access to the staging environment, so we can't work from home. Our contract does not include sick or holiday pay. We are expected to come into an area thick with smoke if we want to be paid anything at all. 

The building doesn't have circulation air and is just pumping in smoke from outside. We just watched upper management leave early while we’re still expected to work.

0

I maintain a local real estate website.

New listings are added when I receive the listing details and photos from the receptionist. I regularly receive incomplete details without photos or photos without listings, and it can take weeks for the needed items to be supplied.

Multi-million dollar residential projects for foreigners are big business here and the agent has started to add several to the website so they can sell units. The units start at $500K and the commission would be substantial so it’s in their interest to display the projects as well as possible.

Client: Here’s a residential project that needs to be added to the website. I don’t have the text in a Word document. Kindly let me know if you can work with it.

Attached is a Word document with the text embedded as images.

Me: Yes, I can work with the text. It’ll just take a little longer to type out. Do you have photos for the project?

A month passes with no response.

Me: I still don’t have any photos for the project. Obviously, photos will showcase the project better than text can on its own. I can create a page without photos but to sell the project it would be better if people can see how it would look.

Client: Add the project to the website with just the text.

I’m starting to lose patience.

0

I am very new to the freelancing scene. When I started I was getting financial advice from a family member who then hired me to create marketing materials.

It was a comedy of errors. They kept supplying me with terrible content that needed extensive editing, and due to a scheduling error for a photo shoot I wound up having to do two, In the end, I completed two photo shoots, seven finished poster designs, four original graphics, as well as various reformats and editing. Through all this, I was always “behind” because I’d get the necessary information the same day as it was due.

At a certain point, I realized I’d spent hours and hours on this but hadn't discussed budget (again - I was new). So I asked. They got very suspicious, acting as if I was going to fleece them, and then asked me to come up with a quote since it would be “good practice for me.”

Me:  I settled on a quote.

Client: Okay, how much is it? 

Client: $XXX.

Client: WHOAH. Why is it that much?

Me: You gave me a LOT to do and at $X an hour...

Client: There’s no way! I don't have the budget for that.

Me: All right, just tell me what your budget is and I’ll work to that.

Client: No. Just write up another quote!

In other words, I have to shoot in the dark until I wind up shooting myself in the foot, woefully undercharging for my time. 

It's bad enough when a family member underpays you – it's worse when they make you do it to yourself. 

0
Load More
Menu