The famed sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison said society undervalues creative work because of the economics of scale: there are too many writers (but the same applies to many more professions) who don’t believe they should be paid every time they do something. Companies and clients know this and get used to getting work from people for next to nothing. So when someone wise actually asks for their true worth, they are compared to and turned away for those who are too scared, too naive, or too inexperienced to demand better pay.

Image credits: Ryan Clark (not the actual photo)

Just a few days ago, video editor and Reddit user u/nitiddesigns got to experience this first-hand. An opportunistic lady messaged them about a clip that needed polishing and gave just a 45-minute deadline, but when she heard it would cost her 20 euros (about 23 US dollars), the woman lost her mind and went on a rant, throwing around words like “exploitation” in a desperate attempt to strengthen her losing case. Luckily, u/nitiddesigns kept their cool and handled the situation like a pro. But don’t just take my word for it, continue scrolling and read their exchange yourself. Trust me, there are plenty of juicy details I haven’t even mentioned!

Image credits: nitiddesigns

u/nitiddesigns usually does photo editing and graphic design work, including logos, advertising, signage, etc. but recently the Reddit has branched out into basic video editing as they found there was a market for it. “I’m a first-year college student so I’m pretty far from a professional in this field, and mainly do it as a part-time job, however, I’ve been working in the graphic design industry for over 6 years, so I’ve got quite a lot of experience under my belt!” they told Bored Panda.

The creative industry is a very polarizing one. On one of its sides, there’s splendor, rich donors, and record-breaking art auctions. On the other, you have creators who earn little to nothing, often even losing money and financing their efforts with second jobs.

As u/nitiddesigns’s story shows, whenever there’s a subjective element to price, someone is bound to try and abuse it.

“For every 5 clients I do work for, I usually have at least one of them who raises some issues like the ones seen in the post,” u/nitiddesigns explained. “Usually they’ll be turned away by my price and will look to bargain for it.”

“Many of the comments [under my story] pointed out to me that my prices are much lower than what they’d usually expect, which may be why I’m attracting the kinds of clients who want to haggle for it. Just last week, I had one client, let’s call him Jimmy, who wanted me to design a YouTube banner for his daughter for free because it was ‘her birthday and she’d be sad if she didn’t get one.’ It seems that there’ll always be people who are looking for stuff for a lower price, which is normal, but there’s a difference between chancing your arm and outright begging.”

Author Len Cristobal thinks these offers sometimes come from “distance”:

“People rarely see artists, their sleeves rolled up and hunched over a desk, studying various elements of design, principles, software, methods, materials, trends, histories, and relevant industries in order to hone their craft, find opportunities where their skill set is needed, and produce sensible artwork,” she wrote. “There are people who believe that artists deserve low pay because their work does not require technical skills — as if art is produced solely by impulse, vanity, or some internal dissonance.”

But they might also have something to do with human nature. Not just our crooked understanding of each other. Psychologist and decision researcher Eva Krockow, Ph.D., said people experience a pleasant high after receiving a freebie in an expensive world where we frequently have to pay even for visiting a public toilet.

“After reflecting on it for a while, I’ve realized that I’ll never be able to completely avoid clients like these while working in a people-oriented industry,” u/nitiddesigns added. “While the vast majority of them waste my time, energy, and money, I have to hand it to the unnamed businesswoman, dealing with her was quite entertaining, I’m not able to deal justice like that very often, so I was quite happy to get the last laugh. Despite clients like this, I really love my job, and the majority of the people I work with, I’m always looking for new people to work with, although I usually prefer it when they pay me!”

People who read the conversation loved the way everything played out

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