the unsendables 2

Well, as a continuation from yesterday's post, today was a wasted day out to a location to see some "evidence" that did not exist. Actually, it wasn't strictly wasted as there were camels out and about. They seem quite at home here in the desert. Well, it wasn't wasted because now we can use this trip as proof to the client that we are so eager and attentive to their requests that we went out to the field when they requested. Of course, I'm confident they will find a way to tell us that we didn't go at the right time even they said go as soon as possible. Or they will say we went to the wrong place even though they said go to location (instead of the office where we also went which did yield some tangentially interesting, albeit not useful, information).

With the field visit in the bag, I did fire off my e-mail (internal recipients only), but in a vastly restructured form and sans the sarcasm. Instead, it was firm and forceful making very clear my position about not giving away unnecessary concessions to a client known for what I will politely call auspicious business practices. That's the polite form. Folks back home can get the fully uncensored version in person when I get back in a couple weeks.

What I find most upsetting to me is the claim of poor work product without proof while we have our reports and files and data showing we did the job we said we would do. I would much rather have a client just say they want a discount for no particular reason than to have baseless aspersions cast about our work in an attempt to get us to concede a discount. If you want money, then fine, but don't accuse us of screwing up. Have the guts to just say what you're after.