Dealing With Rejection

The customers came in a week before I closed my shop. They wanted an outdoor tile panel, framed, depicting a scene and the name of their home. I told them their order would be very difficult to do in the time period they wanted as the kiln would have to be set up in a new place, the frame would have to be custom built, etc. and I was closing my shop and reorganizing my business. They didn't see any of this as a problem. I did and I should have said no to the project until after my move was completed.

Two days after they insisted time was not an issue my stepdad died suddenly. Not only did this have a huge emotional impact but it meant my sister and I had to pack up my mother's things and move them out of the house. We had left furniture and things there after her death so as not to strip my stepdad's house of familiar things. This job was huge. It involved cleaning out an overstuffed, oversized attic, a basement and all the drawers, closets, nooks and crannies of an ordinary house. I was still closing my shop and still moving from my apartment. I became and still am the box lady.

The customers got impatient and started pushing. The kiln needed to be rewired because the electrician who hooked it up at the studio changed the plug. This meant waiting until it could be done. The customers kept pushing. We had another death in the family that meant traveling for a funeral. The order got later.  My stepsisters arrived earlier than we expected and the house cleaning had to be finished. I was still moving. Oh, and did I mention working? All through this time I have been working as a naturalist in Wellfleet and writing all my columns and articles as usual. The customer started getting angry. I couldn't even find the box that had my paintbrushes in it. I couldn't find all the paperwork I had so carefully written notes on. Oh, and did I mention that during this time my father in law was diagnosed with end stage liver cancer, mestastisized from probable pancreatic cancer and one of my sisters in law moved in for a few weeks in the midst of my move so she could be near her dad? It's been a little crazy around here.

As the packing and the unpacking reached an early crescendo (soon to be overwhelmed by yet another wave of boxes coming in from the apartment) my good friend Jane died. At about this same time I found the brushes and the paperwork and spent an afternoon painting the mural. By this time the customers were pretty upset. I went out to my friend's funeral, came back and mounted and grouted the tiles, a two day process. I delivered the tiles and kept moving. Whew.

The customers hate it. They wrote a nasty little letter to the store that processed the order and the store sent it on to me. It was a pretty snotty little note about how unprofessional I have been and how the picture is not what they expected. I was pretty upset. I told the store to give them back their money. And then I wrote the customers the next day and said I would redo it. I haven't heard back.

They brought me photos of a view out their window. It's a panaromic view and they wanted it all compressed into a very finite space, especially since they wanted the focal point to be the Provincetown monument. They wanted it large, dominating the picture. Fitting that in with the little lighthouse out on the point meant a lot of fudging and smudging in the areas in between. It was the fudging and smudging they were especially upset about, even though we discussed this at length. They wanted the buildings done in detail, regardless of the appalling scale that was going to result. Apparently I was also supposed to do the lettering in script, which I admit I totally missed. My notes said "not script" but I was so preoccupied I probably wrote it down wrong.

I have been dealing with other customers during this same time and as events have shown up I have kept them informed. Everyone else has been very understanding and kind. Have I been unprofessional? Probably. I've certainly been overwhelmed and in a one person, art dependent business being overwhelmed is not a good thing. As I look at this rejection, of course I'm upset. I let down a customer. I let down the store that I deal with. I let myself down. On the other hand, there really have been extenuating circumstances, at least for me. I stand to make $150 on this order. It has cost way more than that in stress and ultimately I worked for less than $10 an hour. We were charging $40 for the frame as a courtesy and my husband is now out that as well. Do I go ahead and do it over to try and please them?

How do you deal with an order gone sour? Do you just put it behind you? Do you try to make peace with the customer? Any advice?

Comments

[Peg Silloway]

Thanks for your comment on my blog, Mary. And I can certainly relate to your difficulties with the unhappy clients. All you can do is remember to listen to your gut in the future and move on. You probably can't make those clients happy no matter what you do now. Think about how all your other clients reacted to the maelstrom your life became during this time - they were understanding and made allowances. The tile clients did not. Don't waste your emotional and artistic energy trying to fix it. Close that door, say "Next," and move on to a new adventure. You won't forget them (I still remember the one I had to refund), but you also won't make that mistake again!

[debra]

So sorry for your loss. And for your challenges. We've had people for whom we can do no right. It's kind of like when one thing goes wrong with an order, the rest continues on the downward spiral. Our intuition seldom lies. When the inner voice pokes you in the ribs and tells you to wait and consider whether you r-e-a-l-l-y want to take this commission, it's probably not a bad idea to listen. Sometimes we just walk away, and move on