High maintenance customer

[Bill Akers]

Laura Brody wrote:
> Quoting Bill Akers <billa at mgmindustries.com>:
> 
> 
>>Laura Brody wrote:
>>
>>>Quoting Steve Wiltsie <swiltsie at micro-mui.com>:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>From: "Laura Brody" <laura at hvcomputer.com>
>>>>To: <tjpalmquist at bigfoot.com>; "Tom Palmquist" <tjpalmquist at comcast.net>
>>>>
>>>>> I should have put the brakes on this nonsense at the beginning.
>>>>>After it became obvious that he wasn't going to pay me until
>>>>>EVERYTHING was perfect (according to him), I grew a few IQ points
>>>>>and put a time bomb on the code I wrote for him.
>>>>
>>>>Ummmmm.  I thought that was illegal in most states.
>>>
>>>
>>>   **** Clarification *****
>>>
>>>   I only disabled the import and export reports that *I* wrote.
>>>I did not touch his data or any of his other prc tables. He didn't
>>>pay for my prc tables, so they stopped working. He is right back to
>>>where he was before I came along. He can add data, print data,
>>>delete, change and screw up anything he wants - he just doesn't
>>>have the EDI import and export that I wrote.
>>>
>>>   Doing Bad Things(tm) to a customer's data, prc tables, etc.
>>>is VERY ILLEGAL and NEVER recommended.
>>
>>Once upon a time, I wrote a precursor to MLS listing for someone who
>>EVENTUALLY became a very good customer. After I had structured and
>>imported the information from the state real estate database, I
>>began to suspect that he was intending to stiff me, so I wrote a
>>time bomb into the program which said something to the efect that
>>"This demonstration software will expire on 'date'. He was livid
>>when it began to pop up so his customers could see it and call him
>>asking what was going on, so we sat down and negotiated a contract
>>at that point that gave each of us specific goals and obligations.
>>Being egotistical, he was also livid when I refused to accept
>>certain clauses that he had put into the contract that allowed him
>>to not pay if he wasn't satisfied. Anyway once we had the bluster
>>out of the way, he was a good customer for several years and always
>>paid me promptly. You do come out even sometimes.
> 
> 
>    I'm glad it work itself out for you.
> 
>    I don't expect that to happen for me. G.L. is of the
> opinion that he didn't do anything wrong, I'm an idiot -
> end of story. He is too busy blaming me and other people
> that he is totally incapable of seeing that he contributed
> to the mess too. Until he is able to accept responsibilty
> for the results of his own actions, I don't see him pulling
> his head out of his back pocket area and behaving more
> reasonably.
> 
>    I understand that successful people don't play the victim
> and point fingers, so his business will be limited until he
> starts looking in the mirror more. I will be the first one
> to say that I should have done things differently. I am far
> from perfect. I learned some painful lessons from this and
> will make adjustments, he won't. (What doesn't kill you
> makes you stronger). I will grow and improve, he will blame
> and bad-mouth. It cost me a bit of time and money, but I will
> be a better person because of it. Gee, maybe I should send
> him a "thank you" card? ........nah! :->

Sorry that it doesn't look good for you, Laura. I lost a few 
thousand to bankruptcies, business terminations, plain old 
skinflints who didn't owe enough to make a lawsuit worthwhile, and 
such, but found that I just had to keep going and something good 
happened to make up for the problems. Those are just business 
problems that plague most businesses. I am not necessarily a 
pep-talker, but I also don't let problems get me down for very long. 
I just forget about it, learn something, and go look for another 
opportunity. And when I was ready to shut down my business and 
retire there was an opportunity, where one of my customers asked me 
to come to work for them full time, that continues to this day.
The main thing in the business is to keep your own integrity, while 
not being timid about trying to collect what is owed you. There were 
many small to mid-size business people back in the 80's who seemed 
to believe that paying for knowledge and the skill to apply it was 
just sinful. People in the business now should be proud of the 
people who persevered and mostly banished that idea from the landscape.


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