Last week I lost a job and a customer, and with it around $1,500. The money is not what hurts, it’s the feeling of failure and defeat. Have I done everything right? Could I have it done better?
It was a small job for a nursing home that didn’t want to work with me in the first place. They wanted their upholsterer to do the job, but my client insisted on me. They didn’t like my work right from the start, they complained, and now I have to bend backward to make it right.
I don’t do things halfheartedly, even when I screw up I prefer to do it all the way and do my best to do so. In this case, I succeeded -I am not proud of it.
I didn’t want to do the project, got talked into it and it mirrored in my work. I wanted it done and over with, felt like these small chairs were beneath me. Come to find out, these small chairs, 32 of them to be exact, kicked my butt and left me now feeling humble.
After a few tries, I gave up in defeat, told my customer that I would prefer not to finish the job and did everything I could, to make the transition smooth and painless for all. I took the blame, and it was the right thing to do. How easy it would be to find excuses and explanations but I know better. While they might work and would make me look good, they wouldn’t satisfy me. Deep inside I would know I didn’t do my best and regardless of the outcome, it would leave me feeling bad.
I was flying higher than a kite, and this experience brought me back down to earth -in lightening speed.
I suppose we all need failure now and then to keep ourselves grounded.
That taste of failure or defeat is unpleasant and tends to linger in the mouth for a while. I know how you feel 😕
What I like however is your acknowledgement that it wasn’t working and assisting in a graceful transition. Take pride in knowing that not many people would do that 💕
Yes, it stings and it will linger for a while. May I continue to grow!
I think it’s hard to work on something whole heartedly when you and the client are not seeing eye to eye… your gut told you not to do it…and especially if they were hiring you with a grudge. It does sound like you handled it gracefully, don’t be so hard on yourself!
Can’t click on the like button, as I’m sure this was a terrible experience for you. Reminds me somewhat of a painter I hired to paint our interior. I told him the job was big (all the interior walls) and he said he and his assistant could do it in a week. I told him I didn’t think a week would be enough. He insisted it would be. I left town and he worked with my husband. I haven’t seen the results yet but husband is currently repainting almost all of it. He said they ran out of time and worked late on the Friday of that week until 8, with no lighting and that they missed a whole lot of spots with the second coat. I texted the painter and asked that he call my husband to make arrangements to come and see what the issue was. He said he would. He has not, even though he has responded to me on two occasions that he would. Husband is, tonight, beginning to repaint. He probably is sorry he took the job too.
Well, I hate to be compared to a painter, who obviously wasn’t very professional to begin with. In my case, it wasn’t the deadline or the amount of chairs, but rather my “style.” The nursing home and I didn’t have the same taste, that’s when I lost interest and tried to finish a project against my better knowledge.
Tough situation! Sound like you handled it with grace.
I hope so. Not my proudest moment.
It sounds as though you got painted into a corner and managed to extract yourself instead of making yourself and your client suffer more than necessary. Research shows that successful people have more failures than unsuccessful people. So well done.
Waling away is sometimes the only thing one can do. I am brutally focused this week, so I suppose something good came from it.
I appreciated reading this. A good lesson for us all ✨
Failure is still a win. It teaches us more than a win in fact. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it sounds like you handled things the best you could.
Not feeling to good about it. Perhaps it was needed to find new appreciation if things go right. 🙂
Hugs