S
Squiddy
Guest
Don't you love it when the opportunity to help a friend out comes along?
I just had a call from a friend that went horribly wrong. I've known this guy for about 6 years and he seems to think that because he took a BTEC IT course that he knows all about web development and graphic design, which was apparent considering he kept using web/graphic terms in the wrong context in a kind of "Yeah that thing, I know what you mean <insert incorrect terminology here>"
He told me he wanted a website so I asked him what kind of website he wanted and what he wanted on it. His response was "Yeah, I'd like a basic website, something that just shows a telephone number and explains what we do. I also want some kind of quote system - to which I said can you explain how that system would work for the user and what it actually does - where people can look at something and get a rough idea of how much it costs." I was at a loss as to what he wanted to I took a stab in the dark and asked if he wanted a gallery... "Yeah..!". I explained to him that it would be much better to find a website on the internet that looks 'something' like what he wants (I really had no idea what he wanted - I'm not into stealing designs and stuff) and send me some links. His response was that all websites on the internet are crap so there is no point.
Anyway... long, agonising story short after lots of other unreasonable questions and wasted explanations he then decided to ask when I would be able to start work on this project which he could only pay me "once we had some work coming in". I had already explained that I currently have 5 other on-going projects that I am heavily involved in at the moment. I said to him that I'd be able to start in January. There was a long pause which ended with him saying "Are you serious..?? I was expecting you to be able to start next week.."
I kind of laughed, expecting it to be a joke, but no he was deadly serious. The next 5 minutes consisted of him repeating a question similar to the following "So.. you can't give me an exact date as to when you can start?" After around 5 times of explaining that due to my current heavy work load and my decision to not prioritise a potentially non-paying job (to which I had already offered him a substantial discount) over paying jobs that I would be able to start around January time. He then kept repeating himself saying things like "So you can't actually give me any kind of time-frame as to when you can start...!?" in a constant tone of utter disbelief and frustration.
I was pretty frustrated at this point because the conversation had already gone on for about 20 minutes - excluding the chatting and catching up which probably took it to around 40 minutes. He began asking me why I can't give him a time frame again so I just had to interrupt him and end the conversation politely.
It just left me feeling a little annoyed that someone could be so ignorant. Sorry, rant over, what about you guys? Have you ever been in a similar situation?
I just had a call from a friend that went horribly wrong. I've known this guy for about 6 years and he seems to think that because he took a BTEC IT course that he knows all about web development and graphic design, which was apparent considering he kept using web/graphic terms in the wrong context in a kind of "Yeah that thing, I know what you mean <insert incorrect terminology here>"
He told me he wanted a website so I asked him what kind of website he wanted and what he wanted on it. His response was "Yeah, I'd like a basic website, something that just shows a telephone number and explains what we do. I also want some kind of quote system - to which I said can you explain how that system would work for the user and what it actually does - where people can look at something and get a rough idea of how much it costs." I was at a loss as to what he wanted to I took a stab in the dark and asked if he wanted a gallery... "Yeah..!". I explained to him that it would be much better to find a website on the internet that looks 'something' like what he wants (I really had no idea what he wanted - I'm not into stealing designs and stuff) and send me some links. His response was that all websites on the internet are crap so there is no point.
Anyway... long, agonising story short after lots of other unreasonable questions and wasted explanations he then decided to ask when I would be able to start work on this project which he could only pay me "once we had some work coming in". I had already explained that I currently have 5 other on-going projects that I am heavily involved in at the moment. I said to him that I'd be able to start in January. There was a long pause which ended with him saying "Are you serious..?? I was expecting you to be able to start next week.."
I kind of laughed, expecting it to be a joke, but no he was deadly serious. The next 5 minutes consisted of him repeating a question similar to the following "So.. you can't give me an exact date as to when you can start?" After around 5 times of explaining that due to my current heavy work load and my decision to not prioritise a potentially non-paying job (to which I had already offered him a substantial discount) over paying jobs that I would be able to start around January time. He then kept repeating himself saying things like "So you can't actually give me any kind of time-frame as to when you can start...!?" in a constant tone of utter disbelief and frustration.
I was pretty frustrated at this point because the conversation had already gone on for about 20 minutes - excluding the chatting and catching up which probably took it to around 40 minutes. He began asking me why I can't give him a time frame again so I just had to interrupt him and end the conversation politely.
It just left me feeling a little annoyed that someone could be so ignorant. Sorry, rant over, what about you guys? Have you ever been in a similar situation?