Can You Just Fix It Real Quick?
Before you answer that, pause and think about it. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
I was sitting in my office one day, working alone as I always do, when I heard a knock on the door. Since I work virtually for most projects and most of my clients are out of state, my office is typically a quiet place where I go to get work done, and nobody ever comes there to meet with me.
But on this day, someone was knocking on the door, and it wasn’t any of the other tenants in the office building. It was a man I had never seen before.
“Hi there, do you do websites and stuff like that?” he asked,
“Yes, I sure do. I develop and design websites and do digital marketing,” I answered. “Do you need help?”
He opened the computer bag slung over his shoulder and whipped out his laptop—a big, heavy, old Windows machine from many years ago.
“I’ve got this website here that I built myself, and I can’t figure out how to make this menu work the way I want,” he said, annoyed. “Is that something you can help me with?”
“Well, let’s see,” I said and looked at his screen. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what was going on and whether I’d be interested in working with him.
He ran a tiny nonprofit, as it turned out, that was focused on helping financially struggling teenagers who were at risk of becoming homeless. I thought that was a really good cause, and even though the website he had made with a DIY website builder was pretty dismal, I thought I might be able to help him.
“Well, I don’t know this platform,” I said while clicking around and trying to make sense of this cheap website builder I’d never used before.
He was really impatient in his response, cutting me off as I was speaking.
“It’s really simple. I’m sure you can figure it out. I already got it this far, and I’m just a flunky. You do this all the time, right? I’m sure it won’t take you any time.”
“Well, I suppose I could try to figure out how it works, but that would take me a while, and I’d have to bill you for it, which might not be worth it for you…” I said.
By now, he was getting annoyed.
“Can you just fix it real quick?” he asked.
“It can’t be that hard. I’ll pay you for your time. Look, I know you don’t know me, but I’ll pay you. I’m not a scammer. Here, I’ll pay you now,” he said.
He took out two $100 bills from his wallet and threw them—literally threw them—on my desk.
“It can’t be that hard. Just fix it when you can. If you need more money when it’s done, I’ll pay you. But I really need this done. It’s important.”
“Uhh, okay… I guess so,” I said reluctantly.
I had never had money shoved at me like that before, so I didn’t know what to say. He had essentially made a down payment, so I couldn’t just blow him off as someone asking for free help because he clearly wasn’t.
“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do. If I can figure it out, I’ll call you and let you know.”
“Okay, thank you very much,” he said curtly, then handed me a business card and walked out of my office.
I never deposited those hundred-dollar bills. It was all so very weird, and I hated being tasked with fixing up a crappy DIY job on a website builder I’d never used before. So I just put the cash in my desk drawer and thought, “I’ll get to it in a few days.”
The following week, I was on a business trip in another state, meeting with clients, when I saw that I had a missed call from a number I didn’t recognize. I looked and saw that there was a voicemail, so I listened to it.
“Hi Ron, this is Chris. I’m getting very concerned that you haven’t gotten back to me yet, and you have my money. What is your problem, man? I need that website fixed right now. Is this how you treat your clients? You seem like a pretty unethical business guy. This is becoming a really urgent matter. I need you to call me back.”
I was dumbfounded.
Who was this guy?
Oh yeah, the guy who walked into my office unannounced and tried to circumvent my whole sales process by throwing money at me… That guy.
This was all very strange. He never said it was time-sensitive, and we never even talked about a due date or anything like that. So, what is his deal?
I was in no rush to call him back. I finished my trip. When I was finally back in my office, I sent him an email telling him to come back in so we could talk.
He came in that same day. I had no idea what to expect, but whatever was going on, I was sure it was going to be very awkward. I was nervous and prepared for a fight. I didn’t know what to say.
Chris walked into the office. I immediately spoke first to see if I could prevent him from shouting at me or saying whatever angry thing he was going to say.
“Hi Chris, hey, I’m sorry about all that… I didn’t have enough time to look at your website before I left on a business trip. I’m back now, but I had no idea that this was urgent or time-sensitive. I don’t remember you saying anything about that when we first met.”
“Look, I didn’t do any of the work, and I didn’t deposit the money you gave me: it’s all right here. See?”
I pulled the two hundred dollar bills out of the drawer.
“Yeah, listen, I’m really sorry about that phone call. I was just in a really bad mood, and… it had nothing to do with you. I was upset about some other things, and I don’t know why it’s taken so long to figure out this dumb website. I’m sorry, but I’ll find a way to fix it myself. It’s okay. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
“No problem,” I said, handing him back his money.
He left. And that’s the last I saw of him.
It was an interesting reminder to me about three things:
#1: Don’t let people bully you into agreeing to do things you aren’t comfortable with.
I was not ready to help this guy. I would have told him I couldn’t help him except for the fact that he was so belligerent with me. I was caught off guard, and it happened so fast that I couldn’t even respond.
I normally would have told him it was outside of the scope of what I do, but he didn’t give me that chance. I figured I would have some time to think about a win-win strategy, but he was apparently in such a rush that we were already behind when he left my office for the first time.
#2: Don’t let clients (or prospects) think they can coerce you with money.
Again, I can’t even state how strange it was for my brain to try to process someone throwing money at me. I didn’t like it at all: It made me feel dirty and confused. He wasn’t asking me to do anything inappropriate or demeaning, but just the way that he tossed it at me, thinking, “This will shut him up and make him do my bidding,” makes me feel gross about the whole exchange.
#3: Stand your ground when you know you’re right.
In my judgment, he was wrong. When he left me that nasty voicemail, I thought: “Even if he has a valid point, I don’t want to work with this guy. I’m just going to give him his money back. What a jerk.”
That was the plan, and I was ready to push back if he balked. But I was really surprised at how humble he was when he walked in my door. He was embarrassed by his behavior, which was good. It made my job a lot easier. He realized his mistake.
At the end of the day, I don’t even know if he ever figured out how to fix his website the way he wanted, and I don’t care.
Afterward, he was good, I was good, and we moved on. And that’s all that matters.
These days, I try to be prepared for things like this, and if I ever get a whiff of someone trying to throw money at me to shut me up or make me do something I don’t want to, I just walk away. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.
In other words, when people ask me: “Can you just fix it real quick?” I say, “No.”