Did I Just Step in Something?

I love creative people, except when they think they’re being creative when in fact they’re being skanks. Just experienced an incident with one particular creative who owes me money. In fact, the check’s been absent since somewhere around January. I sent yet another invoice, this time with a late fee.

Let me tell you what amazes me – how all of my previous invoices were sucked into this person’s spam folder, yet this one makes it through and incenses the recipient. That’s the excuse I got when I was told (nay – berated and told) that the check would arrive sans the late fee. Whatever. Just make sure it arrives before I start collecting on my pension, please, lest you see more late fees and (gasp and egad!) litigation. The note was indeed a lovely stall tactic – a creative one, but pretty damn clearly a stall tactic – and failed to pin the blame on me (though doggone it, this person tried like the devil).

Some of the points brought up by said creative – why didn’t I send a paper invoice? Where was it? They were waiting for it. Okay, if you really were waiting for it, and somehow I don’t see that happening, why didn’t you ask for it? I find it hard to understand why, when all of our dealings (attachments included) were conducted via email, that this person would expect a snail mail invoice and more to the point, why this person would expect me to believe that all previous correspondence made it through the firewall but OOPS! That nasty little invoice was sent to the Junk folder. Gosh, I must not know much about technology.

Something smells. Pardon me while I check the bottom of my shoes.