Negotiations

If this sounds familiar, it's because I posted the first part of the story on facebook as the events were unfolding. I'm repeating it here because 1) as far as I can tell there's no good way to find past posts on facebook other than scrolling through them all and 2) the story continued last night. So. . .

A couple of weeks ago, Mia (to be known henceforth as "the client") hired Zoe ("the artist") to design and create her birthday invitations. The negotiations were hilarious. The artist offered to do the design for $3, and the client declined. Then the artist said she'd go ahead and design something without setting the price, and if the client liked it, the artist would set her price then. The client saw that for the trap it was and agreed on the artist's original bid of $3. So far so good.

The artist produced a prototype. The client wanted changes. The artist wasn't willing to compromise her vision. The client threatened to fire the artist. The artist quit and went to her room. The client sat on the stairs and cried.

Ultimately, artist and client found common ground. The design was accepted and printed. Payment was made and a cupcake was shared as a sign of goodwill.

I sent the invitations out and had a strong drink.

Well, last night, Mia decided that she wanted the original art work to raffle off as a door prize at her party. Zoe told her that for her original $3 fee, she only relinquished the digital rights to her image. If Mia wanted the original piece, she was going to have to pay for it. "$10!" "No way! I'll give you $1." This went on for some time, with Mia eventually agreeing to pay $5. Mia handed over the money and Zoe handed over the artwork. No cupcakes were consumed. But there was no crying this time, either.

In case you don't know, these children are 10 and (almost) 9. The next few years are going to be interesting for sure.