Discussion
I was asked to attend a meeting which required that I spend £80 in expenses yesterday (food, taxis, trains) plus !!8!! hours of my time traveling there and back.
We were interrupted constantly! All in all, we squeezed in (quite literally) 4-6 minutes of discussion, and spent 99% of the time staring out the windows, making polite conversation whilst waiting for one of the partners to return to the meeting and achieved absolutely nothing whatsoever, before they finally admitted they were too busy to discuss matters any further, apologised for not letting me know that they didnt have time to see me, asked me to leave and put something in writing.
What do you say to people like them?
We were interrupted constantly! All in all, we squeezed in (quite literally) 4-6 minutes of discussion, and spent 99% of the time staring out the windows, making polite conversation whilst waiting for one of the partners to return to the meeting and achieved absolutely nothing whatsoever, before they finally admitted they were too busy to discuss matters any further, apologised for not letting me know that they didnt have time to see me, asked me to leave and put something in writing.
What do you say to people like them?
From previous experiences, I am very wary of clients who do things like this - it's often a sign that things will only get worse.
If they're not committed to your task they can end up killing it by failing to give it enough support. Yet you will be the one to blame.
If this is a client rather than an employer, and you don't need the work, consider a (polite, but firm) exit.
If they're not committed to your task they can end up killing it by failing to give it enough support. Yet you will be the one to blame.
If this is a client rather than an employer, and you don't need the work, consider a (polite, but firm) exit.
Tuna said:
From previous experiences, I am very wary of clients who do things like this - it's often a sign that things will only get worse.
If they're not committed to your task they can end up killing it by failing to give it enough support. Yet you will be the one to blame.
If this is a client rather than an employer, and you don't need the work, consider a (polite, but firm) exit.
no "champion" for the project.
'They' are a client, the deal is going well, the money is good, everything is ok now but looking back...
If I asked someone to trek down from the other side of the country, morals and basic standards of respect would demand that I was available to see them. Even if I was bleeding out of my eyes... Wouldnt everyone else?
If I asked someone to trek down from the other side of the country, morals and basic standards of respect would demand that I was available to see them. Even if I was bleeding out of my eyes... Wouldnt everyone else?
UKBob said:
Wouldnt everyone else?
Yes, I would.
We had a similar problem with a client recently - they would ask for early meetings - e.g. 8:00 - so we'd get our (subcontract) designer to drive the 50 miles into our office only for the client to forget to show up (repeatedly). We also agreed to loan them a PC, which they were going to collect. They phoned at 3pm on the day they needed it to say they couldn't come, could we drive it the 40 miles to their offices. Which we did, happily.
At the end of the day, the customer is always right. We've now taken to calling the evening before any early meetings just to confirm. Personally, I would hate to waste anyone's time, but if a bit of mine needs wasting for the good of a contract, then so be it.
UKBob said:
'They' are a client, the deal is going well, the money is good, everything is ok now but looking back...
If I asked someone to trek down from the other side of the country, morals and basic standards of respect would demand that I was available to see them. Even if I was bleeding out of my eyes... Wouldnt everyone else?
Yes, of course (well, probably apart from the bleeding from the eyes bit - makes it hard to drive). I'm very amenable to my clients and will happily put in extra time and effort to make sure projects go well. Very rarely do I kick up a fuss.
However, just occasionally a project is set up by a company as a scape-goat, or through pollitical maneuvering, or only because they feel they have to. I've seen these projects go very sour (think million pound legal threats and some very nasty bad mouthing - luckily I was just watching from the sidelines). In those cases, it doesn't matter how nice you are, and how professional - you will still end up covered in sh*t. If nothing else, you can end up being dragged into a cleanup exercise which usually negates all of the profit from the original contract.
When you recognise the signs, it's worth getting out. That's not the same as shafting them and you don't have to be remotely unprofessional. Just find the next clear milestone that you know you can achieve, give them plenty of warning and, if possible, use an agency or your contacts to line up someone else to continue the project with a reasonable handover period. Let them know that you don't think you can give them the best value when it comes to completing the project and you can come out with a customer who still respects you. Sometimes, whilst hammering your head against a brick wall might be very noble, it isn't very productive.
Of course, I've no idea what your clients are actually like and I'm sure they're not that bad. But your story was a classic 'warning sign' that would have me thinking carefully about their motives and the long term prospects for the project.
tvrforever said:
Congratulations - you win today's BS bingo phrase of the day
Off topic but - God to I hate the US work ethic and the BS that goes with it... A 'workshop' has spanners and welding gear in it not sodding flip chats and muppets
that's why I used quotes
Wise words Tuna. These guys are safe to work with, good people at heart, pussycats even 
They merely suffer from self-organisational problems. It really ticked me off, as time is my most prescious comodity. Work comes first, I didnt go to a party I wanted to attend last night to make sure this morning my clients had in their inboxes that which Id promised... I think all of us are tollerant, but a blatant waste of our time whilst easily forgiven really isnt appreciated. Especially after traveling hundreds of miles only to be told to go home.
They merely suffer from self-organisational problems. It really ticked me off, as time is my most prescious comodity. Work comes first, I didnt go to a party I wanted to attend last night to make sure this morning my clients had in their inboxes that which Id promised... I think all of us are tollerant, but a blatant waste of our time whilst easily forgiven really isnt appreciated. Especially after traveling hundreds of miles only to be told to go home.Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff