It never fails – the minute I’m facing a slow day and I think maybe I’ll take the laptop and disappear into the local cafe, the work comes flying at me like those monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. That was my yesterday. Two small projects that I could have finished by 11 am were halted by numerous little projects that kept interrupting. I stood up at 1:30, frazzled and ticked off.
Mainly the interruptions were revisions to previous projects. Nothing major, but the proliferation of stupid questions yesterday was puzzling. And yes, there IS such a thing as a stupid question. (I’m working as a subcontractor, so the client’s clients never know I’m involved, so I’m safe to gripe a little here.) The oddest question (and counter to my response) went something like this:
“What’s the rationale for leaving off that one section of information? It doesn’t list any specialized services.” I looked on the client’s client’s provided info – nope, not there. So I asked to get that info so I might consider it. The response: “I’m asking why it was left off. I want your paid opinion for what the thinking is behind that.” Uh, isn’t it clear enough? My business card does not say psychic. You did not provide that info. Therefore… But in an attempt to please and not come across as snarky, I asked the client’s client to refresh my memory. Sure, I look like I don’t know what I’m doing, but the point is I’m not offending him by saying something akin to “Duh!” Let him be right in his own mind. It hurts you none. Seriously.
But in some cases, you absolutely must put your foot down. The clients are not always right. If, for instance, I’m putting together someone’s press release and they want mention of their product and related awards, plus want it mentioned that they dined with Al Pacino back in 1995, I’m going to ask for not only verification of this, but also the ways in which that dinner may relate to the current press release. If it doesn’t, hey, I’m not going to include it without voicing my objections and reasons for my objections. Name-dropping in general is just a bad idea unless you’re trying to score a job with a celebrity gossip mag. If those celebs are endorsing your products, fine. If not, you’re making an unfair (and possibly litigious) connection between a celeb and your product. No way I’m going to allow you to do that without telling you. And if you decide to do so after you know, I’m not your writer.
Have you ever had to say no to a client for his or her own good? How’d it work out?
Yesterday was my day too, Lori! I was compositing a letter (rush job) for a new client, and her client kept insisting on including information that was self-serving (name dropping) and not at all related to the project objective. We went back and forth over it for a while before she began to see my point. Funny thing is when she contacted the client to let him know his “fun fact” would not appear in the final draft and why, he agreed with no issue.
I meant to write “composing.”
Got this request from a client on what to include in a press release:
“Example quote(s) from clients about how helpful the blog has been (let’s make up something for now)”
Politely as I could, I declined: “If we can get some quotes, I’ll be happy to revise the press release and add them. But as a journalist, I just can’t bring myself to make up quotes from third parties!”
Oy.
Another request was from a client who fired me last month. The two business partners asked me to research a topic and then write it up without attributing the information to the sources. Twice one of them asked me why we had to attribute information to other people. (At least the other guy said during the call, “They call that plagiarism.” But that didn’t stop the first guy from asking the question again later.)
They fired me because they didn’t like my sources but only after I located sources, ran all the names and an overview of what the sources would say by them, and then interviewed the sources.
It was then that they complained that the sources weren’t good enough. I politely told them it was too late to change course now, and they fired me.
Boy was I glad!
You got out of a mess, Gabriella! I can’t believe grownups these days don’t understand plagiarism. Wait – yes I do. They don’t teach it in colleges/universities.
Kimberly, I knew what you meant. 🙂 And she was probably freaking out because she’s a PR person, am I right? They must have insanely high stress levels! They’re basically paid to fret every detail. They do it well, but it becomes an occupational hazard sometimes.
Even before falling on the current hard times, I’ve told clients “I’ll do anything that isn’t illegal, immoral or fattening. And fattening is negotiable.” It usually gets a laugh… but I’m not really joking.
I suppose the Pacino thing could be skirting close to the edge of an illegal/immoral implied endorsement, but I don’t think I would take that hard of a line (“If you decide to do so after you know, I’m not your writer”). Sure it’s dumb, but at the end of the day, if the client wants to mention dining with a celeb — and if I’ve got a contract that protects me and a paper trail of advising against it — I don’t think I’d fire a client over it.
As long as the release doesn’t falsely claim an explicit endorsement, the worst that happens is a cease and desist letter, and I don’t see any actual harm to Mr. Pacino.
Hm… With each caveat, I’m actually becoming more skeptical about my own thesis. I’d be tempted to delete this entire comment, but I don’t want to waste the typing.
Time for bed.
P.S.: the timestamp on your comments is wrong… I happen to know you’re in the same time zone I am. I may be old and decrepit, but I don’t go to bed at 7.
I know, Kirk. I think Blogger has me in Pacific zone. I’ve changed it a few times. Maybe the universe is sending me a message – go west! LOL
See, that’s what I can’t accept – any hint of a false claim, intentional or not. If I alert a client to it and express my concerns and that client brushes those concerns off with something akin to “No one will care and Pacino will never know” that crosses a line. That also shows a client who isn’t above deceitful behavior.
I’d draw the line at fattening given the impending bikini season. 😉
There. Changed the time stamp again. Let’s see how long it lasts!
Not a comment on the immoral client requests, but WHY IS IT that this happens?
It never fails – the minute I’m facing a slow day and I think maybe I’ll take the laptop and disappear into the local cafe, the work comes flying at me like those monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.
That happens to me all the time. You resign yourself to a slow (read: no income) day, begin to actually look forward to having a day off, and WHAM! the work hits you doing 110 mph on the cyber highway.
LOL! Katharine, I know! It’s Murphy’s Law.
I could use a little new-client speeding right now, though. 🙂
I’ve long since stopped worrying about how I look in a bikini.
LOL! Men are so lucky. 🙂