No matter what kind of work we do, we have to interact with different people. There’s no escaping it. At times, we encounter good ones who honestly make our jobs easy. But that’s not always the case, is it? Sometimes, we also come across those who are (to put it decently) "difficult" to work with. And that’s when work becomes more challenging.
This Redditor recently experienced the challenging aspect of work when a client wouldn’t stop contacting him even after midnight. Fed up with the constant barrage of messages and lies, he fired the client. And this led to insults and threats towards the poster.
More info: Reddit
The poster, a contractor, got messages from a client who was accusing him of lying about installing old caps on exterior doors, when actually they were pre-existing
Image credits: Mikael Blomkvist (not the actual photo)
The poster was proved right, the client played victim and said it was "too much" dealing with him, and after a few days again texted the man at 2 AM even when his phone was on DND
Image credits: u/St3fanz
Image credits: Andrew Patrick (not the actual photo)
Due to the client's lies and late-night drunk texts, the poster confronted the client about his lack of boundaries, but the client disrespected him, saying "you work for me"
Image credits: u/St3fanz
Image credits: Malachi Cowie (not the actual photo)
The poster told the client about terminating their contract and that he was a closet classist, the client threw tantrums, insults, and threats but the poster stood his ground
Image credits: u/St3fanz
He also planned to let the lumber yard bill the client, and in the end he mentioned not to accept classism at work
This story focuses on Reddit user St3fanz who talked about his almost violent experience with a client. The original poster (OP) is a general contractor who was in the finishing stage of a house’s remodel for the aforementioned client. One day, OP got a text from him inquiring about the installation of old caps on exterior doors, to which he replied that they were pre-existing.
But come nightfall, the house owner sent him heaps of messages calling him a liar and demanding an explanation. The poster was civil and explained things properly and he was proved right. Of course, the owner couldn’t take this and ended the conversation by playing the victim card and saying that the contractor was too much to deal with.
OP had also noticed other things about this guy, particularly his constant lies. But trying to be professional, he moved on from all of it. However, the client was not yet done showing his true colors. A few nights later, the poster was sleeping at 2 AM with his phone on DND. Suddenly it started buzzing with texts from the client about his opinions on paint color. That’s the final straw that broke the man’s patience.
The contractor decided that he was going to exercise his right to terminate the contract, so he called the client, asked him to process payment for material that the poster had bought, and decided to meet with him. Once the payment came through, OP removed all his tools and materials from the site and then headed to speak with the client. Little did he know that he was in for more frustration.
He tried to talk about setting boundaries for contacting him but the client cut him off and insulted him by stating, “I’m the client. You work for me. I’ll contact you whenever I feel I need to.” This disrespectful way of talking obviously pushed all the limits and the poster was fuming with rage, to the point where he wanted to hit him. But somehow, he controlled his anger and told him to come out for a walk.
Once outside, OP called out the client for being a closet classist, a narcissist, and playing the victim when in reality, he was the one victimizing. He also mentioned that he was terminating the contract. And guess what? The client exploded and started throwing tantrums, insults, and threats. But the poster didn’t waver with his decision.
When he found out that the client had not paid the full amount, he planned to make the lumber yard bill the client while asking for a refund of the amount that he had already paid. He also mentioned that he had a good relationship with the lumber yard and they would ensure that the client paid for everything. Looking at the disrespect and his nearly violent behavior, it just sounds fair, doesn’t it?
Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)
Although the contractor tried to keep his cool during the initial phase, in the end, he couldn’t stand the classist behavior. And as you can see, anyone would get angry if they are disrespected even when they are faithfully doing their job. One thing that OP mentioned was that he wasn’t used to setting boundaries with clients for such things, which sounds pretty reasonable as he didn’t have such difficult clients before.
To get expert insight, Bored Panda reached out to Apoorva Kale, an industrial and organizational psychology practitioner. When asked what a person should do if they are disrespected at work, she said, “The first and obvious thing is definitely going to be a reaction to the insult or disrespect, which is expected, we’re all humans. All I could say is one could try practicing compassion, empathy, and patience and know that nothing (workplace conflicts) is personal. Having said that, it is important to confront and communicate the differences and set boundaries.”
Apoorva also emphasized that boundaries should be established right at the beginning, before immersing oneself into work. Even professional speaker, trainer, and coach Violet Dhu mentions in her blog, “Setting up effective boundaries in the workplace allows you to have better mental health, which in turn helps improve your performance and build better working relationships.”
OP had to go through those insults before he decided to set a boundary. Violet also stresses, “The absence of boundaries in the workplace can lead to anxiety, dispute, miscommunication, and, eventually, disengagement.” It looks like this is exactly what happened between the contractor and the house owner.
However, it seems that even the setting of these boundaries wouldn’t have worked on this client as the poster implied he was a narcissist. According to the Cleveland Clinic, narcissists are full of themselves with a sense of superiority, they find it difficult to take constructive criticism, and as they lack empathy, they generally mistreat other people. Well, now all of that sounds familiar, right? The client displayed all of these traits so it looks like OP was right in judging him.
In the end, OP also wrote that people should not tolerate classism at work. Online folks agreed with him. They also shared their personal experiences while applauding the poster for making the right decision. Now, before we look at their comments, tell us what you thought of this story. Do you think he made the right decision? Don’t forget to let us know in the comments.
Peeps online shared similar experiences, applauded the poster for doing the right thing, and called out the classist client
