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Clients Can Be Dangerous
On Friday August 18th I learned a valuable lesson: Clients, Can Be Dangerous Too.
I have no idea of the statistics. Have no idea how often it happens. But I became a staticis all too fast and the injuries of my neck, shoulders, back, and arms bear the results.
At issue is the ever blurring lines of how much a client wishes or demands to produce on their own and how they value (or undervalue) our work as professionals. This was such a case. The client? A former defense industry HR trainer, retired. A ‘my way or the highway’ personality. I met him through a networking contact with a local chamber of commerce. I should have declined after our first meeting when he (a black man) spent most of the meeting recalling his run-in with white people 35 years ago in a much different Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. Being white and empathetic it struck me odd he would go to such depth to share a story and never clear why he would. It should have been a warning to stay clear of him. Desperate for accounts in our changing evolutionary marketing I should have paid attention to my internal discernment alarm.
The problems surfaced over time with his rants about doing business as a small business company infiltrating as sub contractors to large corporations such as Defense Industry clients. He had an innovative proprietary software program for HR training — similar to power point incorporating Text, Graphics, Photos, Moviing Video, and Audio. His plan was to expand into sub contracting the video, audio, and translation work. That’s how we were introduced.
We all have experienced the larger than life, loud, abrasive, hard edge clients. I have. I’ve had several in my time and though loud talking and abrasive they generally were just demanding but civil. I’ve worked in television station environments with tempremental news staff talent. One that used to constantly criticize the production department inbetween stories and threw pencils at the camera or teleprompter operators. I’ve had clients yell, throw tantrums (along with talent) and yet none became physically violent. Not until yesterday.
The issue is the blurring of the professional line between consumer, industrial and broadcast standards. I caught a glimpse of this three months ago (with the same client). On location he was so demanding he would not accomodate the time to allow for white balancing, focusing, or staging the industrial client for a take. It became a guerrilla-like shoot. In turnaround he demanded it be delivered in a windows media format. From Final Cut, no problem. But in his import, into HIS A/V Editing software (a $49.00 consumer PC version) the video had motion blur. Instantly he went into a tirade how I had ‘ripped him off’ with ‘a bad job.’ After a few calls to the technical suport line and a colleage it turned out the client had the wrong import settings and with a few changes his program accepted my work without a technical glitch. That should have been a second warning to back off – I wasn’t paying attention.
The client paid promptly. I guess that was my determining factor. How much BS I’d take for the otherwise fast pay turnarounds.
As the project evolved he contacted my company to become a part of the audio process. HIs challenge was not finding a translator (for English to Spanish translation), and not knowing any Spanish Talent, to voice the industrial HR training. He also set a budget that was much too low. Initially I passed (smartly). He came back later giving room for budget expansion and I (needing the business) entered into the arrangement.
By my broadcast standards it was a fast turnaround. The translator took about a week (for nearly an hour long project). Problem was, the client thought it should only be about 20 to 30 minutes long. Next, the copy was gramatically incorrect. Mixing of past and present tense, run on sentences, and fragemented sentences. Finally, he wanted the delivery of the audio by page/reference number, since he did not speak spanish. The studio I chose had no problem with the work turning it around in a few days.
When it came time to deliver, the client wasn’t available. When he became available he was hostile. He warned (Name) ‘gets like this sometimes. Even my wife knows when to stay away.’ That should have been warning to get away from him #3. Never though did I think he’d become violent to me. Till that evening when through his home/office door he pitched a fit the English and Spanish Translation audio files were on two separate CDs. He pitched a fit claiming it would ‘double his work,’ followed by accusations we had ‘gone holllywood on him.’ That’s when he slammed the door. ‘Well, at least the CDs were delivered,’ I thought ‘and this project is over.’
He called an hour later, apologized for his anger, and then went on to tell how the project was ‘out of hand.’ Going “hollywood'” was his terminology for how we used braodcast standards. His way of doing things was using the pinhole microphone on his laptop computer for audio. His talent did a half hour narration for $25.00 (verses the $100 we produced with some retired voice talent). Even that (I relented) was too low. The translation? We finally found one who would do the 66 pages for $150.00. $50 dollars more than the client estimated to spend. And I did the voice talent for the English version, to expedite and just flush this project as quick as possible. I had been in Radio (and often talent for TV). Again, to do the best job possible and get out of the situation with the volitility.
Friday I was blindsided. I was called to a meeting to see his finished work. The studio office was located on a converted back wrap around porch of the man’s home. His ‘talent’ and ‘copywriter’ was on the computer with the completed program. The client left us going through the program while he left the room. We viewed the program which though amateurish played fine. The audio was crisp and clear (and improvement over his original design) and the video played fine (no artifacting) though I noticed he took jpeg stills of some of my moving video. He owned it so I had no issues over it.
But the english version had a clipping of the last frames or second of audio. That’s when he came back and began to scream and shout. I have other area producers who say this is common. That clients just don’t understand the process (or value us) as they combine broadcast or industrial elements into a consumer program. (If they just used Mac over PC or FCS over a cheap program – much of this would not be necessary). Antoher producer says “they can call me whatever in the book as long as they spell my name right on the check.” Over time I’ve noticed the civility (and one time professionalism of our services) has deteriorated. Some clients (such as Advertising Agencies) tend not to ask for bids or rate cards on projects but rather offer a production ‘range’ or ‘budget,’ where we are offered a ‘take it or leave it’ option. Several producers in Dallas (and LA) have shared such being more common over the past few years. That and my lifetime of Agencies who are slow pays from 30 to 180 days. That’s part of the reason I migrated into more ‘prosumer’ clients – for prompter turnaround pay requirements.
For the next ten minutes I was confronted with a hostile client who lectured me how worthless I was, how worthless the audio was, and his timeline deadlines not being able to take the project to either the client or his other business meetings for demo purposes. My calm response (worthless over ten minutes) was to contact our studio producer to troubleshoot the challenge. All answers falling on deaf ears of a very angry man and his copywriter (a woman) knowing all too well how (blank) gets.’ I saw that same look on her face months earlier when he ranted about the racism 35 years ago and his experience. That’s when I realized racism comes in all sizes, shapes and colors. I was on the receving end of the racism though it would take another ten minutes to realize how serious it could get.
Every reasonable option I offered was not good enough. The man cornered me in the cubicle workstation charging forward, yelling, screaming, and demanding I was ‘ripping him off,’ going ‘too hollywood’ for him. What set off my button was when the finger came closer to my face and thumping my chest. Listen, I haven’t been in a fight since the 8th grade. I’m all of 6 foot and 140 pounds up against the mountain of a man at 6’5″ and close to 280 pounds. Making matters worse I was due on a shoot at the top of the hour and things were deteriorating making no headway with the client. I offered to delay the billing, cut rates, and work it out. My breaking point is when he started pushing me around. I brushed past him suggesting I would be calling the police if he didn’t settle down. Then suggested when he had cooled down to call me and I’d offer whatever solution it took – that I had an appointment and I turned to leave. That’s when the unexpected happened.
From behiind me I heard the following words “Don’t you walk away from me White Boy.” I’m 48 years old, wear glasses, and never saw it coming. My view of the storm clear glass door became the ceiling as the man grabed me by the neck, then shoulders flipping me backwards to the ground, pinning me to the floor and in my face screaming I had to make it right then and there.
I’m not sure how but I made it to my feet and was in shock it all went down that way. I made it clear he wasn’t to touch me again. But the man just lectured me for another ten minutes on a wide range of issues. Realizing I couldn’t offer a viable solution I let him wind down and cool off, because he was blocking my exit from the home and there was nobody around to help me. As he finally cooled down he reminded me of news stories about abusive spouses, with dual personalities. After all that transpired he went into a guilt trip how he wanted us ‘to continue to do business.’ That I ‘wasn’t tough enough to do business with defense contractors,’ and needed to learn to ‘fight back.’ It was the oddest reasoning but a man definitely out of control.
He demanded I apologize to the woman in the cubicle for ‘starting’ him up. I had no idea how I started him but if that were the requirement I went back to her, looked at her, and asked what had transpired. I apologized as he leaned near us, wished her well, and attempted to leave — again blocked at the door. The man by then was somewhat embarassed by his actions and became apologetic. Demanding though I ‘shake his hand’ to ‘let bygones be bygones.’ I shook his hand but took the opening to get the hell out of there, into my car, and gone asap.
I called my audio producer who was disturbed to learn of it but not surprised. He caught bad vibes from the man in our meeting but didn’t say anything. He interpreted the body language and talk as if this were a one time machiinist or trucker ‘union’ person (apologies to those in unions), with a chip on his shoulder, and an overly aggressive personality that ‘might’ be trouble. I wish my producer had said something earler. Which is one of my points in leaving this message: Trust your instincts — and make them known to your colleagues if you ever have any perception a clilent should be passed over verses taking them on for business.
I learned I had no legal recourse filing a police report. I learned one must call and wait for the police on the spot. Makes no sense but that’s the law these days. And its always a ‘he said/he said’ deal with little recourse. I’m not bloody, not black and blue, but I can tell you now on a Saturday morning it was hard to sleep last night and I am sore in my neck, back, arms, shoulders and even my thighs (legs).
The scary part though was an hour later when the man called my cell phone. He called to apologize in one breath, justify his actions in another, used his religion as a crutch, and his stress as a small businessman with the clients he was pitching as the factors for his outburst.
I’m not sure what it is but it seems people are more equal on the telephone than in person, as I finally had the opportunity to get some common sense injected into the conversation. It wasn’t anything new – just what I had been repeating there in the home/studio office an hour earlier. I offered to have our audio producer contact him about the technical issues. Second, I offered to waive my talent fee for the English audio and suggested he use his PC mike to cut his own audio (as he ranted was not going ‘hollywood.’) Then the man offered to ‘take me out to dinner.’ I declined.
Finally, as he began to change in temperment again to justify his anger and actions I finally stood more solid ground talking about how unprofessional and out of bounds he was as a client. That I wouldn’t tollerate it. I offered to eat the cost of the production and let him go his separate way – just to be rid of this guy. Finally, I cited all my pro bono work in a variety of different racial and ethnic communities. How I had never been so disrespected in my lifetime and never attacked by anyone. And that all he accomplished that morning was to cause me to second guess the racial motivations of people of color and hoping that would not become a permanent scar on my soul. I then forgave him, to which he said thank you sir. And I then fired him as a client. I made it clear I wanted no further contact in person, by telephone or e-mail. I made sure he understood, he said he did and that was it.
Later that afternoon, my audio producer called noting he checked his files, his audio pro tools program, and the burn of the back up CD. All audio was perfect. He had exchanged several e-mails with the client determining it was an ‘inport’ setting error, by the client, and attempted to help him troubleshoot the error. By the end of the day that client had e-mailed a response he would ‘pay direct’ to the producer, talent and translator — and had the nerve to suggest they do business ‘directly’ in the future. My colleage called with the response (after the check is delivered and clears I wouldn’t do business with this guy for a million dollars).
In closing, one of the people I’ve admired in my lifetime is Billy Graham. Religion aside, his ethics in business is what I’ve respected. He never attended a meeting alone with anyone he wasn’t fully knowing. In Hotels and Public he always walked with a colleague or family member. If he were staying in a hotel he would never ride an elevator with a woman (or men later on) if he were by himself. If one entered he exited and took the stairs or waited for a colleage. He never put himself into a position to be misundertsood or taken advantage of…and that has been my greatest lesson with this situation with what turned out to be a dangerous client.
I own a home based broadcast studio and up to this point have allowed clients to meet here, and work here in my studio. I’m tempted to not be in such a situation again and rather meet only with clients in a public setting, or with the presence of a colleage or several for safety protection.
I’d hate for one bad experience to dictate my future business but I’ve noticed as the lines blur between consumer desktop video/audio/graphics and broadcast/industrial media services, there has been a decline of value of our profession among both consumers and agnecies alike. I’m unsure now of the present and future of my business within this climate and environment.
I wonder if I’m not alone in the concern?
Friday, August 17th, I learned Clients, Can Be Dangerous.
Steve Myers
http://www.stevemyersproductions.com
tv**********@***oo.com -
18 Replies
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Glad you’re ok. I would certainly alert the chamber of commerce networking group that got you in touch with this guy. The police may not be able to help you, but at least they can be aware not to help this guy out.
I’ve had the abusive client, but never anything like this. There really needs to be some way to publish his name somewhere so others can avoid a client like that.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html
Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi
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Steve,
Amazing story. I
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steve,
Glad you’re OK.
Your experience really has NOTHING to do with “the business”. You could substitue “home contstruction contractor” for video editing and the story would be the same.
This man clearly either has a chemical problem or is just mentally unstable. The second he touched you, he crossed the line. I can’t believe you even took his call.Run, don’t walk from this guy. There’s nothing good that can come of continued contact. Whatever money is at stake is NOT worth your life.
Make a police report. I don’t care what they told you. You have a witness to this action. That’s all you need.
Stay away from him.
mark
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Steve-
I kind of agree with Bruce and think that a “contingent fee” (ambulance chasing) attorney might be willing to go after this guy on a civil basis, but then there’s the old expression about letting sleeping dogs lie. Which means that Mark’s comment probably makes the most sense.
Over the next few days you should be able to determine just how long term your injuries are. If the only lasting damage is psychological, move on. This guy easily could be enough of a whack job to pursue you the next time the chemistry in his head shifts. Let him obsess about somebody else and hope he forgets about you.
As to the discounts and shortcuts you’ve mentioned, it seems like more often than not the people who demand the compromises up front are the ones most critical of the resulting end product. Kind of like the client who insists on controlling the creative and at the end, when they’re not satisfied, it all comes down to the fact that they don’t like their own idea. Avoid these people. Run, don’t walk.
There’s also a sentiment I express to prospective clients: I am willing to come up with any number of ways to maximize your production dollars and the value you get from them. Lowering what I charge is NOT one of the ways I will do this.
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[Nick Griffin] “I am willing to come up with any number of ways to maximize your production dollars and the value you get from them. Lowering what I charge is NOT one of the ways I will do this.”
Now that’s a fine “Nick Griffinism” if there ever was one. I’m going to memorize it. Thanks Nick.
Meanwhile… Steve, consider yourself lucky. The guy you encountered is probably capable of much worse and it would be unusual if this were his first episode of violence. Consider having him checked-out. Its quite likely that by striking you he violated conditions of a previous encounter with the law.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY
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This sounds like one of those stories that ends in disaster. If you decide to sue or to call the police, expect this guy to visit you somewhere. You don’t sound like an agressive person so be advised that once people(?) like this get a taste of power, they will proceed to push that as far as thay can. They’re called bullies. Bullies cannot be reasoned with. They are the poster child for the term – bi-polar.
Move on and don’t let this guy determine how you conduct business. Keeping your calm was the best thing you could do and if he goes ahead a pays everyone direct and you only have to give up a few dollars to lose this guy, that’s a cheap lesson. I’m sure that non of your associates will have anything to do with him.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut Pro systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck -
Get a retraining order first thing monday morning.
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And a Sig Sauer
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut Pro systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck -
One of the perks of the sheer variety of work I do is I get to peek in on many other people’s specialties. I have worked on video programs about domestic violence and abuse before, and listened to the experts talk, so I’m going to put on my fake Doctor Phil bald pate wig here and tell you, man, this narrative had deja vu written all over it.
Guy sounds like a classic wife beater, if the original post is accurate, and I fear for the other colleague’s safety. Spouse abusers and pimps alike alternate in their behavior between aggression, then apology, excuses (the racial thing is just an excuse) and bargaining and sweet-talk and gifts, until they again reach a triggering event and escalate the violence again. The cycle only accellerates with each revolution. That you are a man makes no difference in his behavior cycle. It is about asserting control thru intimidation and violence.
He got you suckered in initially because you were in a financially weak position and it compromised your boundaries and maybe judgement. He might have sensed that, but unless you’re a really good poker player, again, there’s not much you could have done differently at the outset. The abusers never begin a cycle with a new person on the violent side: they always start on the “Romeo” side. And that nice guy side may last for a good long time at first. It’s only later that they morph into the monster, after getting some hooks into you. Sometimes the abuser is not really conscious of the cyclic behavior, they suppress the knowledge they are doing this, they have themselves convinced they are merely reacting to external, provocative stimuli. Others DO know exactly what they are doing, they are the more sadistic types. And if you’re not an initially suspicious person by nature, it is not anyone’s fault you didn’t see into his soul in the first five minutes and recognize he was evil. So don’t blame yourself. HE’s the whackjob.
You should have filed a police report the same hour after this happened. Even if nothing resulted immediately from that, it would begin to establish a documented pattern of this guy’s behavior. That can only benefit you later, should you file a tort or whatever.
Second, break off all contact with this person and do not respond to any further overtures or communications from this person in any way. You have to interrupt the cycle, not feed or enable him. Any outstanding contractual obligations should be conducted thru an intermediary, like a lawyer.
I am undecided as to the utility of blackballing the person, only because it could trigger more violence against you when he finds out it came from you, and that striking back in that manner is to an extent enabling the guy, giving him more contact to feed off of. Like Internet trolls, they get off on the continued dialog, even if it’s just trading insults. The way to starve them is to not play along. This guy sounds like he’ll burn thru all the local vendors soon enough without your help. You may in fact have already been the last guy in town that would work with him. So, my feeling is, ok to pursue police/court action regarding the assault, particularly if he re-contacts you, because the system will be the intermediary there, but let everything else go.
You probably will be reliving these events for a while, and armchair-quarterbacking yourself on what else you could have or should have or didn’t do. These are normal feelings and reactions to have after such an assault. And you WERE assaulted. Heck, you were battered, too, to be technical about it: assault is the threat to commit the battery upon you. So you’re going to make yourself upset for a while replaying everything in your head and judging yourself, and that’s normal, but not helpful. Don’t let yourself obscess on it. Do share your feelings with trusted confidants, get it a little off your chest, write it down and process it, so you can think clearly and start to put some emotional distance on it. Only then can you act like a smart businessman regarding the situation, and what if anything you’d do different with other clients from now on. Perhaps having a neutral place to meet off-site is a good thing for certain situations.
You may find that actively going out and doing something positive and charitable for someone else after something like this helps take the feeling of helplessness and anger down a peg. Your empathy is going to be heightened for a while, might as well put it to positive, healing use. You don’t have to build an orphanage or anything, but just be open to doing nice little spontaneous daily mitzvas for people here and there: hold a door open, plug someone’s parking meter for them, that kind of thing. Fight hate with love. Done any pro-bono’s lately?
I don’t know that what you told the guy about how his behavior may change your race perceptions was just for his benefit, in the heat of conflict, or if it really reflected your feelings at the time, but I would suggest that now, in the cool light of reason, you know in your heart this is not really the case; that this kind of violence and abuse really is independent of any race or class or even gender, it’s just aberrant human behavior. The fact he used those terms on you doesn’t make him right and you wrong. He used words on you as a tool and a weapon to manipulate you and he tried to pick something that would get under your skin, so to speak. If you are comfortable with who you are and what you believe, you will know what is true about yourself and what is merely a provocation designed to elicit an emotional response. So please, don’t let that fester, and don’t let one aberrant guy volunteer to represent an entire people.
Sorry there wasn’t more marketing-specific help in my post, but what you had was not really a marketing or business problem, IMO. Except in the sense that, when you’re hungry, the temptation to drop your guard and take bigger risks is always there. And there are predators out there looking to capitalize on that. At such times, it’s good to call a time out, check your head here with us, or any friend or other colleague. Their detachment and distance form the situation can prove most valuable. Maybe at some apropriate time, writing yourself a little list of rules and keeping it by the phone or somewhere visible could be helpful. Little sayings, aphorisms, hard limits on billing, whatever. Stuff you know and take for granted but may forget you know when some guy is all in your face.
I bid you peace and good fortune, and that you get past this and continue with success. Let us know of any key developments, we’re all pulling for you here, I am sure.
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Mark-
If we had a best post of the month award this one would be #1 with a bullet. Guess the Dr. Phil in you was REALLY paying attention during those abusive spouse video shoots!
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