A Student Hired Him to Make Custom Jewelry Then Cancelled at the Last Minute — He Told Her It Was Unprofessional and She Got Upset
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When you hire someone, even a friend, to do work for you, it is important that you follow through and buy the end product if they put time and effort into it.
What would you do if a student hired you to make a piece of costume jewelry, and after putting in significant work, she cancelled at the last minute and offered to pay only for the materials?
That is what happened to the guy in this story, so he told the student that she was being unprofessional, and now the student is offended and upset.
I think he did the right thing in telling her this, not just because it was true, but also because she is young and needs to know that it wasn’t the right way to handle the situation. Read through the full story here and see what you think.
AITA for telling an acquaintance that she was being unprofessional?
I often volunteer on student film sets. A few months ago, I met a girl who works in editing. We only spoke briefly.
I assume he makes some type of set jewelry.
A couple of months later, she contacted me about her student project. She urgently asked me to make a vintage-style necklace and sent reference photos.
The first references were real diamond necklaces that couldn’t realistically be recreated by hand, so I told her that immediately.
If she wants direct involvement in the project, she needs to be more responsive.
She then sent different references that were achievable, and we agreed on a design and a price.
From the beginning, communication was difficult. She wanted to approve every bead herself but often took hours to respond or answer her phone.
He is putting a lot of time and money into this.
When I went to buy the materials, I ended up waiting at the store for an hour for her to choose the beads because she insisted on being involved in every decision.
The evening before filming, she sent me a text saying she had found the perfect necklace and asked me to stop working on mine if I hadn’t finished it. She offered to reimburse me only for the cost of the beads.
I would think that the materials were the least of what he put into this.
I told her that canceling the project at the last minute was unprofessional because I had already spent time planning the design, shopping for materials, and coordinating with her despite my own school workload.
I also told her I didn’t need reimbursement because I could use the beads for another project.
He did the work; she should buy the end product.
She became upset and said she didn’t expect that reaction from me since we knew each other. She said she was a broke student, that my price was too high, and that my work wasn’t that valuable anyway.
I told her that I felt offended because it seemed like she had been looking for another option the entire time instead of trusting me to do the job she had asked me to do.
She should feel bad for what she did.
It made me feel like she didn’t value my work or the time I had already invested. Instead of understanding my perspective, I was met with backlash.
I wasn’t trying to start an argument. I just wanted to point out that her behavior was unprofessional and make her aware of how it affected me.
AITA?
No, she was out of line for making him put in so much time and effort and then canceling at the last minute. She was unprofessional.
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Let’s see what the people in the comments think about this story.
This commenter says the student won’t care about being unprofessional.
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I would be so upset about this.
Burning bridges is a big mistake.
This commenter says he should always take 50% of the payment up front.
He should have gotten the payment before upsetting her.
She acted unprofessionally and then got upset for being called out on it. This guy has every reason to be upset with her. He put in a lot of time and effort beyond just buying some materials.
In addition, since she is a student, she needs to learn how to behave within the industry. If she keeps being unprofessional, nobody will want to work with her. The fact that she is upset is her problem. He did the right thing.
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