Lovelies, I have had an odd conversation with an odd client over an odd document. Now the original document as prepared by yours truly was far from odd. It was prepared with the same information the client provided and done with the same extreme care this Frump takes with all paid documents. Yet the client is now fussing about typos. Oh dear child, there are no typos. In fact, dear one, both Spell Check and my own eyeballs could not locate these “numerous” mistakes you claim are there. Indeed, the moment one wants to find fault, one does so based on either misperceptions of misspellings or blatant uneducated finger-pointing on the various phantom typos. Why, just last month didn’t this Frump have to inform a client that no, Frumpie did not misuse or misspell the word “innovation” on his brochure.
This dear soul is now claiming that none of what Frumpie put on her marketing piece is correct. Frumpie here has all the evidence in hand, including the exact list of services this client claims Frumpie made up (the list this particular soul provided, nearly verbatim). What’s at work here? This client has brought in other people to “edit” her document, thus making it triply impossible for Frumpie to please, for once you bring in two friends to give you advice on something they’ve no knowledge of, I’m no longer able to please you because your friends are busy trying to please both you and themselves with their crack editorial skills. Let’s just say the “crack” is something they are snorting at this point, shall we?
Lovely. You want to take your money and go home. I want to hold the door open for you. I would love to please you, dearie. But you’ve just given me the “I talked to this expert and he tells me” speech, which means you now think you know more than I do about my job.
Farewell, my lovely. I am not interested in being your clerk-typist.
May 27, 2009 at 6:13 am |
Oh, Frumpie. I so need to take a page from your book and use it to bolster my own spine. “I am not interested in being your clerk-typist!” Maybe if I say it to myself enough times, I’ll eventually be able to say it to Crazy Client.
May 27, 2009 at 2:08 pm |
Dear lorna, please DO say it. Kindly, but firmly – “Perhaps you need an admin assistant instead?” We don’t work for masses of people at a time unless those masses are all paying. Maybe a little reminder to the client that it is he/she whom you’ve contracted with and not every aunt, uncle, janitor, or college roomate who considers himself/herself to be an editor.
September 11, 2009 at 7:46 pm |
Oh dear Frump, not you too? I actually had to send links to a client to explain proper serial comma use and the typical serial comma controversy. It was painful.