In our weekly installment of Clients from Hell, a hilarious collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers, we present “Why isn't it free?” For previous posts, click here .
Client: Hi. Do you have any free vinyl? I have one of those Cricut machines. You know, like the kind that makes stickers?
Me: We do have vinyl, but it’s six dollars a yard and there’s a three yard minimum.
Client: Well what about the vinyl you don’t use? You can give that to me for free.
Me: We don’t have any scraps. We make use of all of our vinyl.
Client: Well $6 a yard is expensive and I don’t need three yards!
Me: I understand ma'am, but we have a shop minimum. If you’re looking to buy less vinyl, I believe that the Cricut company sells vinyl by the yard.
Client: The Cricket manual says that sign shops give away free scrap vinyl. I don’t understand why I should have to pay you for it.
Me: Because we don’t get the vinyl for free. We have to pay for it and it can actually be quite expensive.
Client: I only want one foot. Why should I have to buy three yards?
Me: I’m a professional designer ma'am. I charge eight dollars an hour for design work and I’m quite busy. If it takes twenty minutes for us to decide on the vinyl that you would like, for me to cut it, and to ring you up, I’ve actually lost money.
Client: Why would anyone pay you to just design something?
Me: Because that’s my job. I’m a designer.
