The week of the RUSH

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UzZx32QU

UzZx32QU

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Man! What a week. Business was crap and everyone wanted it yesterday.

One lady wanted a item framed to show to a friend on her death bed. I said, "could you show it to her the way it was"? "NO! I want it to look finished", she said. I took it in at closing, paid in advance and did it before opening the next morning and called to let her know it was ready. She came in an hour later said her friend passed away before she could see it. :nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts::nuts: What's the point?

framer:popc:
 
She must have been immensely sad. You did a nice thing to stay late to try to get it done in time. I have heard and I believe that framing is a relationship business. Sometimes people see the service and value the relationship, sometimes not. The important thing is that we always offer this sort of over the bar service, IMO. I applaud your effort. :)
 
I hope the irony isn't lost on her.
 
It was really very nice of you. Karma ~ it will come back to you. I had a funny one last week. I'm all in a rush trying to get things done Friday afternoon and a local college student comes in all in a dither and asks if I could please cut her 2 mats right away for her final art project due the next day. Ok - coming right up. I asked if she needed foamcore backings - she said that would be nice, then said that she wasn't done with the artwork and wouldn't be able to get back in to have me assemble them for her. No problemo - I thought - I'll give her the mounting corners, show her how to assemble and put on the atg so she can put it all together later. Righteo, I quote her what I thought was a nice, reasonable college student price and she looks at me with the sweetest smile and says " well, the funny thing is, I don't have any $$ with me, but I have to take the stuff with me now because it's due tomorrow, and I'll be really busy so it will be at least next week before I can bring you the $$:) I was totally floored by the new concept of SHOPPING WITHOUT MONEY. I think I'll try it at WalMart next time I need groceries-HaHa. We're all just doing this cause it is so much fun any way right?? By the by - I let her take the stuff cause I knew who she was, but haven't seen her yet. Merry Merry!
Laurie
 
What rush?

It was good karma and really nice of to come in early and finish it up. But I gotta wonder....if I'm on my death bed, do I really care about looking at art, either framed or unframed? I believe that I'll probably be out of it or have other, more important things on my mind. People get crazy ideas ....probably seemed like a good idea to her at the time.

Yesterday I spent cleaning the office. Are you sure it's December?
 
Maryann said:
But I gotta wonder....if I'm on my death bed, do I really care about looking at art, either framed or unframed?
Click to expand...
I think sometimes it's less about the dying and more about the comfort of those left behind.
 
Interesting this subject was brought up. In the past month we have had three separate instances where the framing had to be done quickly (within 2 days) because the recipient was on their death bed. And none of the clients were talking about the same person.

I remember this happening in the past, but never more than once in a six month period.

Odd timing.
 
I do my fair share of rush jobs, but it seems as though this week has been the worst so far. I had someone come in last night at 9pm, yes I was closed but the front light was on (learned my lesson on that one), and he wanted 7 pictures done right away, by 1200 today for a luncheon. I stayed and did them,
1. Because I knew the person and they have been a great customer
2. And because he didn't complain about the price I qouted and pre-paid

We made arangements to pick up at 8 this morning (1 hour prior to opening). As I was waiting this morning I looked at the time and realized I had to be at my "Real" job, meeting @ 930. Needless to say its 1300 and he still had not showed up to pick them up yet. No call or anything. Sure am glad I charged what I did for my time.
 
4 days ago:

Customer: "This is an emergency, can we have this thing (triple mats, top one is hand-wrapped but has acid burns) re-matted and have it ready in 3 days? "

Me: Sure.

3 days later I call and tell them it's ready.

It's been 3 days now since I called and still not picked up!
 
Embarrassed

I have come to the conclusion that they are too embarrassed for not picking up the rush job to come in a get it late.... I don't care if they are late as long as I get paid...Unless they are a repeatedly late customer.... so we call and pretend that it was the usual timing.... sometimes it works to be known for being forgetful.:icon19:
 
I had a similar death bed framing job a few years ago.

A woman had a cross stitch piece she wanted to show to her mother who, she claimed, only had a few days left. She reported that her mother was in and out of consciousness.

I rushed the job for the next day and she picked it up and took it over to the hospice where her mother was a patient. The woman came back a few days later with tears in her eyes thanking me. She delivered the piece just two days before she died. Her mother in a somewhat groggy state appeared to be delighted.

The woman apparently was so impressed with my compassion and willingness to bump other projects in favor of hers that she wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper praising my efforts and publicly thanking me.

I don’t know if it helped sales or not, but it was nice to see in print.
 
I think what Val said, about it being more for the living than the soon-to-be departed, is dead on (pardon the pun). I imagine people are desperate for some way to lighten the suffering of whoever is dying, and this comes to mind.
 
That's right Paul. I had one lady tell me she had promised her mother she would take care of the art (photo? can't recall now), but she'd never gotten around to framing it. All of sudden, her mother was declining rapidly, and she wanted her to know she'd fulfilled her promise. Otherwise, she said, she would feel guilty every time she looked at it. She was lightening the suffering of her mother, but also of herself for the rest of her own life. Said she had enough to feel guilty about, without adding one more thing, and at least she could take care of that one quickly.

A lesson there, yes? Don't wait until the last minute, or it's too late, to honor our word to our loved ones, or to tell them we love them.
 
I had framed a Shirley Temple charcoal by Gary Saderup for one of my best clients. She had it done for her elderly mother, who was in a nursing home. ( ST was her mother's favorite little actress) She picked it up and took it out to her mother who was thrilled and kept looking at it and commenting on it all evening. The next day she took a turn for the worse and died. Now ST hangs in my clients home and she has a special memory of how happy it made her Mom's last evening.
 
Another death bed story:

A very good friend of the family (my family) was sent to hospice with two and a half days to live. Her daughter decorated her room early in the day she was to be brought to hospice, I got there shortly thereafter. Her daughter had hung about 12 pictures in her room; favorite family pictures, paintings my mom had done for her, etc. I was in her room waiting while she was wheeled in and got to hear her exclaim in absolute delight and joy at seeing her favorite pictures close by for her last days.

I had framed each and every one of them.*sniff, sniff*

She had a steady stream of visitors for those two days and all noticed her pictures.

It was very nice. *sniff*

I am wondering who is going to have the unenviable task of hauling and hanging my 500 pictures to my hospice room...

edie the itsalongwayoffihope goddess
 
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