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Entitled Customer Thinks They Deserve Special Treatment, Web Designer Gives Them A Refund And Fires Them As A Client Instead
How much is your mental well-being worth? $1,000? $3,000? Would you even put a price on it?
Larionne Mariah, a web designer from Los Angeles, ended a recent project because the customer didn’t respect her boundaries.
After Larionne refunded them, she tweeted the climax of their conversation, reminding others to put themselves first.
It blew up. As of this article, Larionne’s tweet has 259K likes. But most importantly, it has sparked a discussion on what professional relationships should look like.
Continue scrolling to check it out!
More info: ellevueagency.co | Instagram | Twitter
RELATED:
Los Angeles-based web designer Larionne Mariah had to deal with a really difficult customer
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According to Larionne, the client was actually pretty easygoing in the beginning. “I vetted them before taking on their project and laid out my availability from the start,” she told Bored Panda. “They agreed to that and I proceeded with the project.”
However, that changed soon. “They sent me multiple emails in a very short time span outside of my business hours. Then they proceeded to send me multiple messages on Instagram,” she recalled. “I thought something was urgent. But it wasn’t.”
The web designer highlighted that the snippet in the tweet is her making sure they felt like she was consistent with communication. “They agreed but insisted that because they paid me a certain amount of money, they had a right to dominate my time,” Larionne said.
After she tweeted the climax of their disagreement, people began talking about what constitutes a healthy professional relationship
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Some people, while they agreed the situation was messy, thought that the web designer may have overreacted and could’ve handled things better. However, they might not be aware of the full picture.
“I did give this person a chance, everyone just saw the end of the story,” Larionne said. “This was only a culmination of multiple reminders of my communication cadence. I understand why some people feel I was wrong but the project was really just getting started and there is a clause in my agreement that I can choose to terminate the project if I feel the partnership isn’t going to work.”
Larionne is glad that her experience started a conversation about boundaries and how important they are. “I didn’t go into business to feel belittled by clients or dreading a project,” she added.
At the end of the day, the virality of her tweet needs to “cure” just one client from hell for all of it to be worth it. And I think it already has.
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What do you think ?
Jo Choto 4 years ago
I was hired by someone to type/format a mathematics textbook that was all handwritten, but she wanted sample pages before making a contractual agreement. So I obtained a temporary free trial of a program that could do all the different polygons and graphs, notations, etc. with a view to buying it when hired. But the client keeps asking for more test pages from a 100 page book. On the 12th free page, it became clear that she was simply trying to get me to give her one example of every image she needed, so she could then adjust and finish it herself. I told her I had already completed over 10 percent of the project, and that she would need to pay me in full up front before she received anything else. I had purposely kept back key images so she wouldn't be able to screw over me (or the company that was selling the program) by getting everything for free. And that was the end of that job. Freelancer life is too short to be screwed around by bullies, cheapskates and time wasters.
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
Exactly! Freelancers have bills to pay and mouths to feed. They are not slaves.
Load More Replies...
Vicky Z 4 years ago
Every time i read this kind of posts i need a cute cat or dog post afterwards to calm down!!
Aisling Raye 4 years ago
This is why Reddit is amazing. Try r/eyebleach or r/brainbleach
Load More Replies...
Ellie Rosser 4 years ago
Why is everyone so pissed at him. he is TOTALLY within his rights to not work for someone for any reason. He could refund the full amount if he found out the client was a football fan if he wanted to. And clearly he knows that this client will be a pain in the ass for him. His income lost, his call. Get over it people.
Robert T 4 years ago
Depends on the contract - whether it is time-based or deliverable-based - but I would be tempted to charge for the time already put in, as that time could have been used for another client. However we are only talking something like 10 days work here, so it may be easier just to cut your losses and give them no comeback.
AngelWingsYT 4 years ago
Had tons of difficult customers working fast food. Worst was a day we were CLEARLY heavily busy and a "karen" demanded her 14 pc. Family meal be fresh (thats a good 20+ min wait on a GOOD day) we told her itd be a wait ROUGHLY 25-30 mins due to how busy it is and due to being underataffed cook side. She grumbled a fine and we cash her out n pull her to the side to wait. About 27 mins later we get the order out to her only for her to take the food then complain about the wait time n demand a refund (AFTER taking the food from us) we tell her we cant do refunds (we cant DMs rules not ours) so she demands a free large side. Manager gives her one just to make her leave. I personally wouldnt of gave in. She agreed to the wait time and we got it out within the estimated time. You dont get to complain and blame us for your choices. You could of went somewhere else or just taken what we had up if waiting was gonna be an issue for you
The Cute Cat 4 years ago
That is why I avoid freelancing, although my current status is freelancer. I am working per 6 month contract now. The customer is never bother me outside working hour. And also they never hurry me like that. Believe me.. Just go to the bigger money. They always know how to respect freelancer..
Anna Repp 4 years ago (edited)
I just quit a job where I had a boss like that. Took it thinking it would be as an easy side-gig during Covid times, when my freelance work is not as reliable. Realized that no money is worth it when a boss was yelling at me for 15 minutes after I did not answer her texts and calls for 10 minutes because I was busy helping customers, doing my actual job. She went ballistic after I said I was trying to do my job and told me that my job was to drop everything immediately and answer her because she's the boss. I quit - I don't want to work for a boss who does not actually let me do my work.
Jo Choto 4 years ago
I was hired by someone to type/format a mathematics textbook that was all handwritten, but she wanted sample pages before making a contractual agreement. So I obtained a temporary free trial of a program that could do all the different polygons and graphs, notations, etc. with a view to buying it when hired. But the client keeps asking for more test pages from a 100 page book. On the 12th free page, it became clear that she was simply trying to get me to give her one example of every image she needed, so she could then adjust and finish it herself. I told her I had already completed over 10 percent of the project, and that she would need to pay me in full up front before she received anything else. I had purposely kept back key images so she wouldn't be able to screw over me (or the company that was selling the program) by getting everything for free. And that was the end of that job. Freelancer life is too short to be screwed around by bullies, cheapskates and time wasters.
Freya the Wanderer 4 years ago
Exactly! Freelancers have bills to pay and mouths to feed. They are not slaves.
Load More Replies... Vicky Z 4 years ago
Every time i read this kind of posts i need a cute cat or dog post afterwards to calm down!!
Aisling Raye 4 years ago
This is why Reddit is amazing. Try r/eyebleach or r/brainbleach
Load More Replies... Ellie Rosser 4 years ago
Why is everyone so pissed at him. he is TOTALLY within his rights to not work for someone for any reason. He could refund the full amount if he found out the client was a football fan if he wanted to. And clearly he knows that this client will be a pain in the ass for him. His income lost, his call. Get over it people.
Robert T 4 years ago
Depends on the contract - whether it is time-based or deliverable-based - but I would be tempted to charge for the time already put in, as that time could have been used for another client. However we are only talking something like 10 days work here, so it may be easier just to cut your losses and give them no comeback.
AngelWingsYT 4 years ago
Had tons of difficult customers working fast food. Worst was a day we were CLEARLY heavily busy and a "karen" demanded her 14 pc. Family meal be fresh (thats a good 20+ min wait on a GOOD day) we told her itd be a wait ROUGHLY 25-30 mins due to how busy it is and due to being underataffed cook side. She grumbled a fine and we cash her out n pull her to the side to wait. About 27 mins later we get the order out to her only for her to take the food then complain about the wait time n demand a refund (AFTER taking the food from us) we tell her we cant do refunds (we cant DMs rules not ours) so she demands a free large side. Manager gives her one just to make her leave. I personally wouldnt of gave in. She agreed to the wait time and we got it out within the estimated time. You dont get to complain and blame us for your choices. You could of went somewhere else or just taken what we had up if waiting was gonna be an issue for you
The Cute Cat 4 years ago
That is why I avoid freelancing, although my current status is freelancer. I am working per 6 month contract now. The customer is never bother me outside working hour. And also they never hurry me like that. Believe me.. Just go to the bigger money. They always know how to respect freelancer..
Anna Repp 4 years ago (edited)
I just quit a job where I had a boss like that. Took it thinking it would be as an easy side-gig during Covid times, when my freelance work is not as reliable. Realized that no money is worth it when a boss was yelling at me for 15 minutes after I did not answer her texts and calls for 10 minutes because I was busy helping customers, doing my actual job. She went ballistic after I said I was trying to do my job and told me that my job was to drop everything immediately and answer her because she's the boss. I quit - I don't want to work for a boss who does not actually let me do my work.
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