June 17, 2008
So...........Sometimes the worst clients are the ones who are getting something for free. Jeebus!
I donated meeting space to an engineering group from the city. My boss is really into goodwill gestures that keep the boat from rocking too much. Since we are in a city-owned building and pay no rent, we try to be nice.
Phone Call #1 - Can we use your upstairs seminar room for a meeting?
The answer was yes.
Phone Call #2 - Can our people see the museum exhibits for free too?
The answer was yes.
Phone Call #3 - Do you have any activity you can send us? Something related to the exhibit floor?
The answer was yes, we have a scavenger hunt.
Phone Call #4 - Can we have lunch in the room?
The answer was yes.
Phone Call #5 - Can we come see the room?
The answer was yes.
They came to see the room. After they saw it, they wanted to know if it could be arranged luncheon style on one end of the room and lecture style on the other. Since that basically requires two set up's with 160 chairs for me, I said no. They settled on having their lunch AND meeting in the luncheon set-up. WHEW!
Phone Call #6 - Can we use the area behind the museum too? We want to play a game out there.
The answer was yes. I was getting irked.
Phone Call #7 - We changed our minds. Can we have lunch in the back area? Can we just have the meeting upstairs and then move outside for lunch and our game?
The answer was yes. I was getting super irked.
Phone Call #8 - Do you have electricity out in the back area? If so, can we use it?
The answer was yes. Okay...still part of super irked.
Phone Call #9 - Do you have a TV with a DVD player attached that we can use for the meeting?
The answer was yes. Grrrrrr....
Phone Call #10 - Do you have a projection screen?
The answer was yes. Same grrrrrr....
Phone Call #11 - Do you have internet access in the meeting room?
The answer was yes. And grrrrrr.....
Phone Call #12 - Can you lead private tours for the attendees? There are 80 people coming, and I know you can only take 20 people at a time. Do you have four staff members who could do this for us?
The answer was FOOKIN' NO!
Good grief, Charlie Brown! Enough already! I had already donated $2,100 in event rental space, and then they wanted FOUR free tours? I don't think so!
See what I mean? When you give something away, there isn't any perceived value. No perceived value = no respect for the facility or the people who work there. It seems that the more I charge someone the better they behave. The same was true when I was a professional musician. If we charged a ton of money, we were treated like royalty. If we donated our services, we were treated like servants. It's a very weird thing.
End of grrrrrr.....
For now.......
