TrailMix Tina

[EricKei]

<bg> Brother runs a small-town newspaper. I pitch in to help from time to time, mostly as copyeditor or taking pics. Fortunately, many of the jobs they send me out on just happen to be ones where I am to take pictures at meetings where free food is being served ^_^ Given my current financial situation, this is a huge blessing.

Names have been changed to protect the guilty. Neither "TraiMix Tina" nor the similar euphimism this lady uses for herself resemble her real name -- it's just a character she once portrayed on stage, and a name to which she answers (the term she uses is another form of snackfood). </bg>

This custy has, apparently for many months if not years, come into the office from time to time, asking people to help her to create ads -- often from the ground up, always using her preferred phrasing, even when doing so results in something that would give English teachers aneurisms. Peeps in the office dislike the latter because it looks bad on the paper if they were to print ads that read like they were written by a fourth-grader. They dislike the former because said custy doesn't seem to comprehend the notion of "payment for services" when it comes to this sort of thing.

I don't mean "she doesn't like to pay too much" -- I mean, "she doesn't want to pay for ads *at all*". While the paper makes ads for free (don't ask me why) for paying customers, she has more than once gotten people here (including yours truly...once) to spend half an hour typing up stuff she had scribbled down on paper for an ad, and she even gotten our ad lady to make a basic ad for her...It is only AFTER this that she mentions that either she wanted the paper to run the ad for free, or that she intended the ad to be run somewhere else entirely, or used as a promotional flyer.

When TrailMix was recently confronted by our front office LadyOfAwesomeness and notified that she actually needed to pay MONEY to get an ad run, it took LOA something like five minutes of repeated explanations to get TrailMix to cough up a few bucks for a basic classified ad, and explain to her that said payment would be enough for a text-only ad, not for a full-color quarter page promo flyer for a local musician x.x

I'm not even sure she consciously realizes that her actions could be construed as dishonest or in any way an "issue"...But it doesn't change the fact that her average visit eats up half an hour that could be used for work that needs to be done for PAYING customers.

The one upside is that, everyone who regularly uses a computer there has wound up as her "helper" at least once, and the bosses are trying to figure out a diplomatic way to get her to either pay for work she wants done like everyone else (in which case she would be welcome), or else to get lost. We've been trying subtle means to get her to shove off (asking her for money before doing any work for her usually works quite nicely), but it doesn't always work. She DOES seem to target those who appear to be less likely to just tell her to shove off, however.

Just as a side note -- TrailMix apparently has no problem with spending her hard-earned money on bookings, venues, food, salaries, printing of flyers, etc for the events she organizes...Her blind spot only comes into play when it comes to paying for newspaper/tv/radio advertising, or getting people to make said advertisements for her.

PS - One of the things the paper does is to collect arrest reports, listen for 911 calls, et al. One that came through a few days ago was from someone hosting an event at the local Convention Center. According to the caller, TrailMix Tina had walked into someone else's conference room, told the workers doing the setup that she was the person who was giving the conference later that evening, and promptly walked off with all of the decorations, taking them to her own conference room >_>

((note- I ran this one by the mods in advance to make it less fratchy ^_^))

[MoonCat]

Wait, she has them work on stuff that she gets printed somewhere else?? Oh, HELL no.

The heck with being diplomatic. No newspaper these days can afford to give stuff away, especially not their services. Next time she comes in she should be taken aside by a manager and told flat-out, no money = no ads, no design services, no nothing. And make sure before that, that every person on staff understands this and abides by it. She really isn't a paying customer - she's a freeloader.

[emax4]

Maybe bill her for services rendered, backdating to whatever date is appropriate, and then reminding her of the past due bill if she asks to have more things done before the previous bill is paid off. This will either cease her from requesting more work, or you'll get paid for your previous serviced the next time she wants something.

[Captain Trips]

Make her pay in advance. She knows what she's doing.

(P.S. I hope she was charged with theft.)

[EricKei]

We haven't heard anything about the convention center incident, so I'm guessing that the caller got her stuff back in time and decided not to press charges.

As for getting rid of her, the paper recently gained a new weapon -- a management-level person with many years of experience who has no trouble telling it like it is. His first encounter with her was the recent one where she got the ad person to make a partial ad, and his response was basically "WTF was THAT?"...We couldn't easily talk about it at the time because legit customers were present and it's a small office. He has said, in essence, "The next time she shows up, send her to me. I'll get rid of her."

[emax4]

Since I don't have the "D'is gon' be GOOD" animated .gif, I'll just insert this to express my interest:

[Pixilated]

*snip*

As for getting rid of her, the paper recently gained a new weapon -- a management-level person with many years of experience who has no trouble telling it like it is. *snip* He has said, in essence, "The next time she shows up, send her to me. I'll get rid of her."

Good for him! I'm a little puzzled as to why the paper wanted to find a "diplomatic" way to get rid of her, since it should be very obvious she's using their own diplomacy against them. There should've been a staff meeting at which all staff were told that this person gets NOTHING until she coughs up some money -- that would've avoided a lot of wasted time. The only way to get her to stop is to refuse to do any more work for her, or to demand payment in advance for everything ... including any requests for "preliminary consultations" or "but I just want to bounce a few ideas off you."

Since I don't have the "D'is gon' be GOOD" animated .gif, I'll just insert this to express my interest:

Same here, LOL.

[EricKei]

The thing is, apparently some of the peeps at the paper felt that "trial by fire" would be more amusing, it would seem. After my experience with her, the main layout guy decided to "warn" me after the fact. "Oh yeah, that's TrailMix Tina. She never pays for anything." (along with some other comments that I shall keep to myself, as they would plant this thread firmly in Fratching territory).

I guess she also has perfect timing, too. Until the most recent incident, none of the brass were there when she was. This time, they decided to put their foot down.

As for why diplomatically? Maybe they're afraid she'll flip out on them or something x.x To an extent, I can see that. She IS a known local businessperson, and the last thing a newspaper wants to do is piss off the businesses that advertise with them. She has been around long enough to have plenty of friends whom she has, presumably, treated much better ~_~

[XCashier]

As for getting rid of her, the paper recently gained a new weapon -- a management-level person with many years of experience who has no trouble telling it like it is....He has said, in essence, "The next time she shows up, send her to me. I'll get rid of her."

Good! There is a time for diplomacy, and a time for saying, "Here are the rules, either abide by them or GTFO."

Far too many businesses have bent over backwards far too often for scammers and freeloaders in the name of "good customer service" and have gone bankrupt doing so. The American public (and other parts of the world, it's not limited to the US) has been brainwashed into believing that "the customer is always right" and thinks they can get away with all sorts of shenanigans. A big and to all vertibrate managers who are not afraid to put a stop to that nonsense.

[Halo_miles]

Call me odd but...where I come from, you typically have to pay for something to be designed from the ground up. Tell the lady to either pay, or piss off.

[MoonCat]

The staff can blame it on management. Management can blame it on the publisher. The publisher can blame it on the owner. The owner can blame it on market conditions. If she sticks around through all those conversations, the last one puts the icing on the cake.

[dendawg]

Since I don't have the "D'is gon' be GOOD" animated .gif, I'll just insert this to express my interest:

Fixed that for ya.

[Pixilated]

The thing is, apparently some of the peeps at the paper felt that "trial by fire" would be more amusing, it would seem.

Okay, well, then they really have nobody to blame but themselves, LOL.

As for why diplomatically? Maybe they're afraid she'll flip out on them or something x.x To an extent, I can see that. She IS a known local businessperson, and the last thing a newspaper wants to do is piss off the businesses that advertise with them. She has been around long enough to have plenty of friends whom she has, presumably, treated much better ~_~

Hmm, yeah, okay, I worked for a small-town paper for a decade and I used to hear some astonishing stories there too, about how they didn't want to upset the local Grand Poobahs. At the time I worked for them this had largely gone by the wayside -- they didn't necessarily get rude but they did have a very firm "Here's the rules, abide by them or go elsewhere." Since we were the only game in town ...

The staff can blame it on management. Management can blame it on the publisher. The publisher can blame it on the owner. The owner can blame it on market conditions. If she sticks around through all those conversations, the last one puts the icing on the cake.

That's an excellent idea! If she decides she wants to argue with each escalation, let her try arguing with "market conditions." That would make for a great YouTube video.

[emax4]

Another bright idea, anytime she wants to advertise events; get the date and location wrong no matter what. She bitches about it being wrong, let her know that money talks and corrects imperfections.

[EricKei]

Halo - Agreed, as I mentioned earlier. Why the paper doesn't charge for making a custom ad, I have no idea. It could be a great source of extra revenue (even if it's rarely needed), and the advertisers who would need such a service are generally willing to pay for it. The paper's not exactly hurting for advertisers, they're almost always right at the allowed limit.