Edy Lynn on mon 12 apr 04
After listening to my husband rant this morning about a model train =
engine he took in for repair as the owner of the shop told him the =
repair was minimal and would be no charge and then getting a voice mail =
message that the bill for repair would be $65 which led to my husband =
vowing to report this outrage to every model train hobbiest in the =
world, I would have trouble telling a person who is such a PITA that you =
would charge 3 X as much considering that PITA would spread the word and =
keep other Nice Paying people from ever visiting your shop/studio for =
fear of not be able to afford you or thinking that you are not a nice =
person yourself. Just a thought.....
I would politely excuse myself and pretend to tend my kiln...whether on =
or not...with a loud announcement that "I sure hope this batch doesn't =
explode like the last one...what a mess!...." or some such nonsense. Or =
just get busy with the books or something. It's a no win situation that =
I have experienced at a couple retail places and the more you try to be =
nice the bigger the PITA gets. I try not to sink to their level.
So off I go to the talk to the husband about his problem and probably =
dealing with the shop myself. Maybe we can work out a deal....
Edy Lynn
Susan Fox-Hirschmann on tue 13 apr 04
In a message dated 4/13/2004 12:51:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
edylynn@DJTRAIN.COM writes:
<< in the world, I would have trouble telling a person who is such a PITA
that you would charge 3 X as much considering that PITA would spread the word and
keep other Nice Paying people from ever visiting your shop/studio for fear of
not be able to afford you or thinking that you are not a nice person
yourself. Just a thought.. >>
I only do this after they place several phone calls to me.....I explaini that
the custom work will take much longer than the piece that she saw in my
booth. I can usually tell when they continue with "well it needs to be a little
greener, maybe a tad bluer, leave out the purple on the red and blue....etc" and
I never fear that anyone will think that I am an "not a nice person" but
rather that it costs more for custom work that they want to have a big part in
designing with me. These are the same people that buy
Expensive cars with gold letters on the back, but often try to cheat an
artist out of what the true worth of a piece really should be. They call and call,
and no amount of money is really worth what you have to go thru to make a
piece for people like this.
I am really nice when I give them the price, prefacing it by the amount of
extra time, special glaze mixing, special reed dying, etc, in the total scheme
of things, I do not thinkt hey ever believe that I am not a nice person, but
rather that the time envolved in their custom piece is priced higher than they
wish to spend.
I am happy when the phone calls end.
Others that I do custom for, where the people know what they want and do not
try to chisel me out of dozens of hours of time....well their pieces are
priced according.
So the bottom line is....
how much is your time worth?
Susan
Annandale, VA
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