Clients from HELL

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  • Amicus0

    I'm sorry to say this, but we (designers and developers) often make our own lives harder by not properly educating clients from the get go, by doing extra work for nothing, and generally not valuing our time and sanity as our greatest assets.

    We give in to clients demands so that we can make the quick buck and get on with our lives, but long term all we've taught that client is that designers are computer operators, not experienced experts who (usually) know better.

    If we ever want to solve these clients problems we need to start acting like the professional experts we purport to be.

    Doctors, rocket scientists etc. don't get told how to do their jobs, so why should we?

    • Yes, I often compare myself to Doctors and rocket scientists in meetings. #winningETM
  • akrok0

    i have a client from hell at the moment.
    which i might have to take legal action against.

    rich bastard!

  • inteliboy0

    ^

    Problem is 'good' design is highly subjective. Just as people give feedback to a restaurant, movie or piece of music -- clients are going to give their 2 cents to our design work.

    Where as, say, no one reasonable is going to question a doctor or rocket engineer.

    • Genius. I will retrain as a doctor then keep designing : PMrT
  • Honesty0

    Doctors get told how to do their job all the time, think of all those patients that self-diagnose and have all these crazy fucking home remedy / homeopathic shit thanks to the internet

    • yeah, but nobody argues with the doctor, and the doctor doesn't give in for more moneymonospaced
    • people do argue. it's just the money thing and the stereotypes that are different from a designer/devJaline
  • dopepope0

    I estimated a job once at around 500. But once I finished it I realized I estimated really low. it was more like a 1000 - 1200 job. So I asked if I could invoice for 1000 in light of how much was involved. This is what those fucking bastards wrote back to me:
    'we completely hear you and appreciate your flexibility and responsiveness. $1,000 is totally fair. Consider it agreed.'

    fucking assholes.

  • shellie0

    I had employers from hell, so I our clients and I self exodused ourselves and set up shop in their back yard. Just kidding. I set up across the street. :D (lies)

    Employers from Hell: Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold << where's that book? I bet there's some crazy stories along those lines.

  • Projectile0

    This one client of mine requested a design. I sent him a really nicely designed pice of work. The guy looks at it, and turnes to me and can you fucking believe what he says? He says "Great, love it but can you make the logo a touch bigger?" so I cut his face off, raped his family and burned his house down with them in it.

    And he calls ME a cunt!

  • Fanco0

    just been told by a client to put a QR Code at the end of an animated web banner....

    • ha! it's one of those situations where ppl see something 'trendy' and wants to have it, without knowing what it isk_temp
    • hahahaakrok
    • "painful".akrok
    • I fucking hate QR codes. So dumb.pastpastdue
  • chalk0

    This guy isn't a client, but he was asking me about redoing his company's website the other day. This was our follow-up chat this morning...

    • sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Not everyone knows how it works, he realised his mistake...set
    • wow what a cuntanimatedgif
    • ...that Dylan guy is

      BAM!
      animatedgif
    • yah, he learned his mistake. sure. by saying "i was trying to get you an in" lol set. lol.chalk
    • This is really not that bad compared to some other clients. Maybe he did realize his mistake.Jaline
    • < yeah thatmoldero
  • flashbender0
  • mantrakid0

    This is for a site of a Zumba instructor that has 3 close up portrait photos of herself on it.

    --------

    I can certainly take some time to protect the web images, but I must be honest and tell you that any methods we use to disable people from downloading the images directly via using the "right click > save" method, etc, if they really want to access the images they can always find them either via searching the source code of the page (every browser has a 'view source' option which shows the actual code used on the page) or if they really want it, they could simply take a screenshot and theres nothing at all we can do to stop that method.

    All I can suggest if you truly wish to protect the images is maybe put a watermark on them so if someone does steal them, they would have your name embedded in the photo. Even then, someone could still crop the watermark out, so it really depends on how much you really want to protect them?

    Let me know what you think & based on what method or lengths you would like to go, I can provide an estimate on the time it would require to protect them. If you have any questions or require any clarification, please feel free to contact me.

    • I've had a lot of client conversations like this... .yes, anyone can SCREENSHOT!
      vaxorcist
  • Beeswax0

    My worst client was someone who is sent me by my nice neighbor. I was just sitting around those days so I decided to help her for a couple of hundred dollars to create graphics&illustrations for her book about autistic children. You know I was feeling good coz it was like a charity. In about 5 days I came to the point of having a nervous breakdown. I learned that she was COLORBLIND. And I diagnosed her with dyslexia. She was sitting next to me while I was working and telling me to move stuff to left while pointing at right. She was telling me to use green and then she was telling me that it's not green it's brown or some other shizz. I literally cried and begged God on my knees. I quit the project two times but she kept calling my house and talked to my mom about how important the project is for her etc... I also corrected her typos coz the book was terribly written. The torture took about 10 days and I got older 10 years during that time.

  • inteliboy0

    "We would like to see the logo larger - stretching further across the top of the page"

    We laughed. This is after making it bloody huge already. Same goes for every other facet of the site... it's like they are 90 years old and blind. Sad to see such a great project fall wayside when we had such high hopes. Tiring to fight (educate) each of these battles as well.

    • tell them to ctrl+ in thr browser until it looks okay to them. Presto, job done.monNom
  • monNom0

    Favours almost universally come back to bite you.

    Rush job? = Not an actual deadline, client is disorganized and will not provide your what you need to advance past your first client deliverable. Project may be either strung along or abandoned.

    No client input or materials, just get it done, oh and it's a rush? = Plenty of client feedback once you've burned through your hours
    with no clear direction and did it 'wrong'.

    Little or no budget. 'What can you do to help me out'? = Never ending scope creep and revisions. Lots of meetings.

  • animatedgif0

    Douche bag full white suit wearing boss - "I'm not sure about the green background can we change that to something else?"

    Dense yes woman project manager - "Yeah I don't know why its green"

    The background was actually #CCCCCC

  • fadein110

    I have about 4 clients from hell at the moment but luckily I am subcontracting so don't have to deal with them direct too much.
    I mentioned the phrase 'web hosting' to one recently and he cut me off aggresively and said 'speak in English'... WTF.

  • animatedgif0

    ^ Just make up a term for it, like "File trunk", "Digital box" or "Internet Page Printer"

    Then when they work with someone else they'll wheel it out and sound like a fucking moron.

    • hahafadein11
    • Yes :) Graphic Code Inverter. Hypername Site Certificate. Linkword Upclicks.mikotondria3
  • mnk_b0

    Client, a designer, contacted me today with the following proposal:

    He designed the basis of an agenda/diary/notebook for a client.
    But he feels that it needs some creative touch. Basically he can't develop the product alone and needs help.

    Client is abroad. So we agree to contact later today via one messenger service.

    I asked him what he meant, so he explained that he had designed this agenda but only calendars, pages and other basic elements and needed someone to make a cover, separators, etc...deadline is next Sunday!
    He asks immediately how much I would charge for this.
    I replied first send me what you have and let's see what kind of work it really needs and if I can help you.
    He says he has everything ready and starts discussing the process, supervision methods, blablabla...
    He explains he would send pictures and patterns for me to say yes or no...
    I reply that he first has to arrange and compile everything , send it to me, let me see it and we talk later after I analyze it.

    He starts talking about using last year's agenda as the basis for this one, saying that everything is ready. He starts sending me files...
    Two pages of last year calendar in pdf. The same two pages in indesign. This in a zip. Sends also a two pdf extra one with last year complete agenda and other one without covers and separators.

    I'm like "da fuck"?!

    I try to ask him if the files are correct and explain him what I see.
    Starts some blablabla about me mixing the stuff and onfusing everything. This after almost one hour of his conversation about the project.
    I try to explain him again about the files he sent me and write that this can't be it. I describe again what I see and ask if it's correct.
    Reply:

    "I don't know, I have to connect the external drive pass the files to my computer again and download illustrator and indesign, install it and see what's wrong..."

    • Oh jeez. Run.dopepope
    • totally. I'm not going to tell you how much he thinks of charging the client for the final job...mnk_b