So, my blogging has been somewhat limited of late, and certianlly not terribly high in the quality marks... Well work went kinda nuts, so that's been consumeing my time... (how inconsiderate of me to get jobs... sheesh...) At any rate, I was driving back to my shop today from where we were installing some scenery, and my cell rang... The number on the caller ID was familiar, but I couldn't place it, so I assume that it is one of my clients. Turns out, I'm correct, and it is indeed the guy I've been building a custom deck for. (no not a deck for his house... go read my post on theatre terms... sheesh...) Well he doesn't want to talk to me on my cell, so I tell him, no problem, I'll be at my shop in a bit and I'll call him back... Calls indeed follow my return to my shop, and I get this very hesitant question...
"How far are you along on the deck?"
At this point I get that feeling in my stomach where I am about to get screwed in a rather unpleasant way... I reply, "Well honestly, all I have to do is spray a coat of paint on the edge that was sitting on the floor last night, so basically I'm done... Why?"
Him... "Oh.... Um... Hang on a minute would you..."
Me... "Sure" (cue the extreme desire to have several pints of Guinness... RIGHT NOW!!!)
Him... "Well the client has cut the budget... Can we reduce the cost anyway?..."
Me... "Um... The only thing I am building for you is the deck... The deck is done... The only thing you could reduce at this point is to cancel the install and save yourself the cost of my crew for the install..."
Him... "Really?... I mean, its really done?... you don't install it for another week and change..."
Me... (now instulted that he has just accused me of lieing to him) "Yes, as I told you last week, we are extremely busy at the moment, so that's why I needed confirmation last Monday. As soon as I had the time, I plowed right through your deck so I could move on to other projects. We actually finished it yesterday, one day ahead of our in-house schedule."
Him... "I see... Well the client has decided that they can now go with a rectangular deck"
Me... "I can certianlly understand your position, but please understand that you ordered a custom deck. Let me clarify, a VERY custom deck. I have never before needed an elliptical deck for any event... I do not forsee needing this deck again... Therefor as a single use deck, I am going to throw this unit out after your event. The lids for your deck were cut by a computer that costs me almost as much by the hour as I make in a day sometimes... We have not marked up this unit nearly as much as we may have for some other clients because you are a new contact, and we very much appreciate the opportunity to work with you, however, there really is nothing I can do to reduce your cost at this point apart from not sending you the deck at all, at which point you will still owe me for the actual cost of the deck. While your client may be "ok" with a rectangular deck, I doubt very highly that they will find no deck acceptable."
Him... "Um... I'm going to have to get back to you in a few minutes..."
Me... "Ok... I'll be here for another 15 minutes, then call me on my cell" (its now 6:30, we close down at 5:00 normally)
7:00
*ring*
Me.. "Hello... Such and such company"
Him... "Hi, its me again..."
Me... "I was just headed to the door, but what can I do for you"
Him... "I hate to beat a dead horse, but is there anything you can give us a break on?..."
Me... "*sigh* There really isn't any slop in the numbers on the deck... I'll tell ya what I will do... I'll give you my stock stairs for nothing, the tool rental for nothing, and the groundrow we made for you for nothing since I built it from fall from another show... But that is absolutly as low as we can go... While I really would like to work with you again in the future, we will not be able to do that if we make absolutly nothing on an event due to comping everything... "
Him... " Ok... if that is all you can due for us, I'll tell the client they have to come up with the money..."
Me..."I'm sorry it has gotten to this point... We do try very hard to work with peoples budgets, but after all, this was approved...
Him... "I understand... I was just hoping you would be a little more flexable... We have used Thus and Such Scenic in the past, and they were always willing to come down in price..."
Me... "I'm quite familiar with them, and yes, they frequently underbid us on events... They are also now out of business because they could not pay their bills... They were excellent people, and ran their company into the ground for their clients... Unfortunatly, that did not seem to translate into revenue for them. We will do everything we can to make your event perfect, however we can not take a loss on a project because your client suddenly decided they wanted to spend their money on something else... Please try to make your client understand what an odd unit they ordered in the first place... A rectangular deck from just my stock decks would have cost them half to a third of what they got involved in with an ellipse... "
Him... "Yes, I tried to explain that to them, but untill today, they were absolutly insistant"
Me... "Well perhaps they will learn something from this in the future"
Him... "Oh, I doubt they will... They have been getting away with this for some time from other shops... "
Me... "Have they noticed that their other shops have no all closed?..."
Him... "I doubt that occured to them"
Me... "goofy clients... sheesh..."
Him... "You're telling me... I'll talk to you tommorow... Thanks..."
Me... "Thanks... "
*click*
I swear some of my clients are going to drive me to going gray way prematurely...
Later...
Posted by Backstage at September 23, 2003 07:28 PM