I was hired for my first freelance job a couple of years out of college as a Project Coordinator. 

The client would change his mind frequently, there was frequently confusion about billing, and the client had many complaints about project tracking.

Client: Try to keep on top of the team to use the Project Management System as much as possible. They're resistant but keep on them. 

I followed up with the team every week to see if they used the system. 

The client called me into his office.

Client: People don’t like you.

Me: What do you mean?

I am starting to shake. What an awful thing to say.

Client: I have received a number of complaints from people in the office that you are asking them to use the Project Management system too much.

Me: That’s what you asked me to do. I guess I won’t communicate as much.

Client: That won’t work either. I need you to be more likable.

I went home and cried for an hour. I quit soon after.

I still had friends who worked there who told me that the Account fell apart within a year, and most people who worked on it left. I was not surprised.

I was hired to work on design projects for a Communications Consultant, getting paid a small fraction of what I think he was getting paid. He was leading the creative projects for various large clients and was a decent creative writer. However, he had no design background.

Client: I need you to create an e-mail campaign template and a poster for one of my clients.

Me: Ok, do you have any specific colors, fonts, or imagery that you would like me to use?

Client: No, I have no idea about that.

I looked at the client's logo and existing creative assets online. I created a mini-style guide with on-brand colors and fonts and share it with the Consultant.

Me: I created this brief guide based on the existing creative work and logo of the Client. This will help us keep things organized and on-brand with projects. We can adjust it as needed as we go.

Client: Wow, great idea. I have been working with this client for over a year with various designers and I never thought to specify the colors, fonts, or overall direction of the projects.

There’s a first time for everything.

I was working on a freelance marketing project for a couple of property managers who had a lot of angry tenants coming in every week. The office wasn’t a pleasant place to be, with people getting in arguments and various accusations floating about constantly. There seemed to be an overwhelming workload with billing, showings and maintenance requests.

Client: I just wanted to let you know we’re moving out of town, so we’re leaving the management up to the team at the office.

The office has a small team of three (two part-time administrators and a Manager), with hundreds of properties being managed.

Me: Ok, thanks for letting me know.

After the clients leave town, I get an e-mail from them.

Client: We feel like we left out baby behind. Can you send us an e-mail from time to time to let us know how things are going at the office? Thanks.

I left the job shortly after.

I was freelancing in a marketing position for a business that was going through a lot of change as a result of management decisions that weren't well thought out. 

The business had recently expanded its product line under the whim of my the Director’s son, who was in his early 20’s and was my boss.

The products weren’t selling as fast as he had hoped. He had expanded his sales team by almost 40%. None of these decisions were made with my input.

Me: It seems like there’s a lot of work that we need to do to market this expanded product line.

I proceed to discuss my thoughts and ideas about ways to improve customer interest.

Client’s son: Well, I’ve only been here a year. What do you want me to do about it?

I guess, according to this logic, being a Manager means one can completely shrug off all responsibility.

I was getting started working with a well-known, respected business in marketing & sales projects. The business sells very expensive items.

I was learning as much about the business as possible. The Sales Manager must have been getting paid at least six figures, but he seemed a bit off to me.

In the short time I was there, the Manager sulked and spoke sarcastically to a number of staff members. He rarely left his office.

A customer arrived and wanted to speak to a salesperson about specific questions he had, but no one was available to help the customer besides the Sales Manager.

Me: There is a customer waiting to speak to a salesperson, but no one is available.

Sales Manager: Well, what questions does he have?

Me: Various questions. He said it’s important that he gets the right answers from someone experienced with the products.

Sales Manager: I can’t help him. I don’t know enough about those products to answer his questions. I haven’t answered customer questions about these products in years, and I hardly leave my office. You will have to find another Salesperson. Can you write down his questions in the meantime?

I was shocked that the Sales Manager openly admitted to being incompetent.

I was hired to work on a project for a large transportation company as a freelancer. The point of contact, the Director of Marketing, needed help with the social media presence of the company.

There was little to no strategy in place, which seemed odd to me, considering the company had worked with this Director of Marketing for a couple of years. The social media presence was very lacking.

I proceeded to build a plan, design the creative assets, and I created a monthly editorial calendar. I created a successful online presence for the company on various social media platforms over the course of several months.

Client (Director of Marketing): I am so proud of how well we are doing on this project! Thank you for all of your hard work. The owner of the business is very pleased.

While working with this Director, I also learned that she had outsourced the SEO portion of her job to an SEO freelancer.

This is about the time that I realize that the Director of Marketing had basically outsourced most of her job, by paying freelancers low hourly rates. I am glad “we” have been so successful on this project as she builds her career on our work.

I've been editing small videos for personal use for me and my friends for a while. I've decided to start freelancing while still keeping a side job to make ends meet (for now). When I announced this to my parents, they said: 

Mom and Dad: Oh thank god, you're keeping your job. You'll have a real source of income and you won't become a shut-in.

I worked for free for months helping a non-profit.

Client: Can you take on this additional project?

Me: I could, but to do anything more I would need to be paid.

Not only did they say no, they told other non-profits in the area that I was "blackmailing" them. 

I work for a local print shop as a graphic designer. There's a customer that has been coming here off and on for several years, long before I started working here. He's notorious for being very difficult, rude, and disorganized with his projects. 

He had some mailing he needed to be done and he was in way too big of a hurry and was constantly calling in to micro-manage how things were being set up and when the items would be ready for him to pick up so he could get it in the mail. This resulted in some mistakes on my end due to all the interruptions. However, he did proof these items and missed the mistakes as well and approved everything to print. 

When he brought these mistakes to my attention, I told him I would take care of it and we'd reprint the messed up letters and envelopes at no cost to him. This reassurance was lost on his ears and he still proceeded to belittle me and basically call me an idiot. This was a phone call at the end of the workday.

Client: I'm writing with regards to your so-called "designer" who "helped" me the other day who clearly has inadequate experience to do the job. They should be fired.

The email continued on this note for several paragraphs. I've been doing this job successfully for years now. 

Happy ending: my boss emailed a long message back that listed the years of grievances the client has caused us, including being rude to other customers by acting as if our whole staff are his personal employees to help him all at the same time while others are waiting to be served. The boss told him to not return for doing business with us unless he can treat us employees and other customers with the respect we deserve.

I was a freelance Graphic Designer while working part-time for a decade. Due to irritating clients I wrote into my terms and conditions that disputes resolved with a tutorial PDFs by me will result in an additional charge of $50 to the job.

Client: I need this logo you designed me for my zip seal tea product to be smaller. I don't want to pay the printer that much.

Me: Did you want to change the materials of  the stickers or print direct onto the packet instead of stickers?

Client: No I need the matte stickers I specified. Just make them to size of your thumb instead. I can print that and stick it on to my bags of tea myself (550g and 1kg packets of loose leaf tea).

Me: I would advise against that as the customer will need to squint to see the logo and will not be able to see the logo properly from the aisle.

Client: Why is that? Seems quite logical to me. Why would they squint?

Me: Should I send a PDF tutorial explaining?

Client: Well all right, you seem to not be able to make sense on the matter.

Clearly I needed to take extra steps.

Me : I sent a PDF with pictures I captured of me in supermarket aisles comparing the products I could identify clearly from walking and compared to my thumb size.

Client: Ahhhh, ok well that makes sense. I guess I'll have to pay for the original size then.

Later, after billing:

Clients wife: My husband wants to know why you have charged him an extra $50 than what was quoted.

I explained the PDF terms and conditions on the contract.

Clients wife: (yelling at her husband while still on the phone to me) She charged you more because you are an IDIOT!

Client's wife: (to me) Don't worry I'll pay you myself. 

The client was grumbling and muttering to himself in the background while his wife finalised the payment.