My first job offer gone wrong

...And i don't take it lightly.

I was offered a "project" that i thought was seamless and easy considering the amount of money they offered. A friend of mine referred the client to me, and knowing i need some money i jumped for the offer of editing a video presentation.

I cleared everything first by asking what was needed, what materials (pictures, clips, etc) needed are already at hand, and which software they preferred. My friend said they already have it, all of it and that the software they were going to use was flash. Knowing there were video clips, i told him it would be better if we use Premiere. I asked some more questions, like if all the materials are in digital form of which he almost automatically said yes. It really seemed like an easy job. 15 minutes worth of video. No problem.

Last night i met up with the client in their condo around makati. My friend and i arrived at around 8-ish. When we got there apparently the client still wasn't talking to us about business. We were waiting for her boyfriend. Fine. Why are we waiting for him? Apparently, the boyfriend is the one who knows a little about these softwares and creative marketing. Hwow. Fine. So we waited for what seemed like an hour or more. When he got there, which was really unfortunate, he started yammering about how this years presentation should be better than the last and that his girlfriends expectation was really high yada yada blah blah blah... basically i zoned him out. I seriously had a migraine after that meeting mainly because of him. But that wasn't the problem of it all.

First. I was told that all the materials were already with them. Wrong. They didnt have the videos yet. The names of the attendees, weren't even listed! Geez. Second. They said that it was all in digital form. The client then shows me a folder full of developed pictures. I thought they were just for me to see what i'd be doing. Wrong. It was all the pictures needed to be inputed (pardon if the grammars wrong) in the presentation. I asked her, "these pictures are developed, where are their digital form?" Honest question, a great question actually. "That's it. Hindi kasi nila sinunod yung sinabi ko sa kanila." Fantastic. Do you have videos for the intro? Animation would be harder to do. No, of course they don't! So i asked them to just film boxing na lang. Third and most importantly. The client's boyfriend is a pain in the ass. He's so full of himself its a wonder why i didn't jump out the 23rd floor just to get away from him. He's good in graphics design i must admit but so are my friends but they don't act like they're the shit! I've worked with better people than him and he acts as if everyone else is inferior. My friend was apologizing. I was ranting all the way home. Their offer doesnt cover the time and effort that they want their editor to produce.

So after asking my friends and family of my situation of whether to let this one go or not, i got a unanimous answer; "It's not worth it". Damn straight. I don't like being looked down upon. I'm already short i get that enough. I don't like having to deal with people that are just not professional. If they want a professional output then they have to give a professional input. What's funny is the last person i talked to seemed to have given me the best advices in terms of work. The first was "Even if someone in your team is slacking and seems apathetic, you don't just fire them. You're a team and whatever one lacks the others should compensate". And now as i picked him up from the office i discussed to him my dilemma. All he said was "Let it go." Guess i'm some kind of daddy's girl.

- Live like there's no tomorrow. Love like it's your last.