Re: Round #4263 with the Client From Hell and what would Andrew do?

[Annamarie Pluhar <apluhar -at- mindspring -dot- com>]

I wrote the email below and then discovered that David had already 
asked an "what would Andrew do"?   Since mine is a bit different, I'm 
posting it.  I think that this IS an interesting case. Yes, Andrew, I 
agree that the account is one-sided.

***
Having had my own CFH experience I read Elna's account with sympathy. 
It certainly is a case study in how a relationship can unravel.  I 
wonder, Andrew, at what point you would have disengaged from this 
client? At the outset, is my guess.  Since you won't work on fixed 
price contracts would you have walked away from this work? Of course 
you would offer a hourly rate "not to exceed" as a counter offer. 
Would the ensuing quality of the negotiation have revealed that this 
was a CFH, and it was best not to accept the work? Have you in fact 
walked away from work?

The issue of fixed price vs. hourly is difficult. I like it when my 
carpenter tells me how much the project is going to cost. He knows 
his job, he knows how long it is going to take, he ought to be able 
to tell him how much it is going to cost. When he stops to take a 
page and return a call to another client, I'm not worried that he'll 
bill me for that time. I can understand our clients feeling the same 
way.  (Though, when carpenters are doing a major remodeling they 
always hedge because they don't' know what they'll find.)

There's another element in Elna's story that hasn't been touched on. 
My own CFH was a bully. She liked throwing her power around, seeing 
people scared of her and pleading with her.  I don't know what she 
might have been like if faced with a male person with significant 
authority who refused to be bullied by her.  Elna's also sounds like 
a bully.  There are times when it is good to have solid, male 
competitive testosterone to stare down bullies.

Annamarie

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