I explained that I am serious about copyright issues because I am a writer and I am affected by them daily. I wrote an article for a client once – it was $100 for 1,000 words. I submitted the article and never heard from the client again – never got paid either. I later came to find out the client submitted the article to a very prominent Web channel, where it is now the number one search result for the particular keyword I built the article around. It just irks me that I was never paid and someone else is receiving a ton of traffic and ad income from my work.

Interestingly enough, I filed a copyright complaint with the company posting the article. They sent me back a form letter with their DMCA complaint attached. I filled it out and sent it back the same day, and their legal department never responded to me again despite repeated e-mails to follow up on the status of my complaint.

I do feel if it comes down to you and the person who is paying you, you have to defer to the one who signs the check. I’m not talking about someone who is so obnoxious and makes you miserable. I’m talking about the average, every day client and decision maker. We don’t always agree with our clients, but they are hiring us to convey their message or represent their company. We pretty much have to do as they ask.

As writers, we don’t always know beforehand what our client is going to be like, however, that does not give the client to treat us poorly or disrespect simple boundaries (like not calling at 3 am).

When you are struggling, sometimes you have to put up with more just to have money coming in. However, with some clients, it is just not worth it. No one should have to put up with verbal abuse in the workplace – and in fact, there are laws against certain behaviors in brick-and-mortar establishments – why should freelancers be an exception?

Everyone needs to decide for themselves where their own tolerance line is. A business relationship is a two-way street. Just as clients have the right to not work with us if they feel we are too hard to work with, we have the same right.

It doesn’t have to be about ‘mean vs nice’ – it can absolutely be about being effective and what is truly best for both parties. If a client is continually unhappy with what you produce, then maybe you both would be better off breaking off that business relationship and finding someone else to work with that you have better communication and compatibility with, if nothing you do seems to help improve the situation.

What Deb wrote is right – we do have an obligation to work hard and well for those who hire us – and sometimes that does mean learning to be more tolerant and understanding of personality quirks. However, once a job is completed to the client’s satisfaction, if they have been too stressful to work with despite all of your best efforts, it can be best to cut them loose/not accept more work from them, and to move on to a better client/freelancer relationship elsewhere.

Again, it doesn’t have to be mean. You can have a positive attitude and be kind and polite even when dealing with difficult people. Sometimes, the difficult people recognize you aren’t compatible but respect your honesty and courtesy. My difficult boss actually gave me a lead/recommended me for a different job with someone else because of those very reasons.

He recognized that we did not work well together (he wanted someone available at all hours of the day and night – that is not me), but because I worked for him for so long, produced quality work, and was always courteous to him, he thought of me when another opportunity came up with a friend of his. I got that job and worked it until it ended almost a year later. That situation was a much better one for me.

My difficult boss and I remained on friendly speaking terms. Just because we didn’t click in a work situation didn’t mean either of us was a jerk or a horrible person. By the way, he freely admits he is ‘difficult’, and recognizes that is why he has a hard time keeping help long-term. I had stayed with him longer than most of his freelancers did. He even offered me more work later, but I declined – and he understood why. There was no malice about it on either side.

My word – the customer is not always right. But you do need to listen to them and bend as much as possible to suit their needs, while still staying on your path to success.

It was mandatory at the travel agency that all clients sign a disclosure notice stating they understand the refund policy, and I couldn’t let the client leave until this had been signed. Unfortunately, this was before cell phones were so common, so I wrote the name of the woman at the cruise agency and what she’d said and the client signed it.

The next day, the owner of the travel agent came down on me yelling and screaming that I’d written that extra piece on the disclosure because no matter what the cruise agent had told me, it was wrong. He spit all over me as he raged on about what a useless, incompetent moron I was and how he should fire me.

The lesson I learned is that no one is ever right. Every situation is different and while I felt I’d done the right thing by following their “the customer is always right,” I’d actually blown it. From that day on, I never assumed the customer was right, just as I don’t always assume my employer is always right.

In fact, I had an email today from Universal Class where I teach a class and they are cutting all instructors pay by 50%. They’ve always based their classes on commissions. They took 40% and instructors got 60%. Now they want a 70% cut and instructors get 30%. If we refuse to sign the new contract, they are deleting our classes on Sept. 1st. Otherwise, I can double my class enrollment fee to make up for the difference. They say it is the only way they can remain competitive and that instructors must understand their point of view. Quite honestly, I don’t. When I started teaching, their whole point was to offer low cost classes for those who couldn’t afford college classes. So my class has done extremely well seeing hundreds of students over the past five years. I can’t take a 50% pay cut and plan to walk because in this case my employer most certainly isn’t right.