Kristopher Peña
Class Assignment 12/8: Case Scenario
A business is an extension of oneself. In a business setting, among the most important
priorities when operating an organization, professionalism is paramount. There will be many
pressures and sometime even outright manipulations, but it is a business owner’s responsibility
to remain levelheaded. This scenario sees a client acting completely unprofessionally and frankly
with disrespect. While you may be well within your right to respond in a similar manner to the
client, the right thing to do is to remain calm and professional and think critically to separate how
the client is behaving and how you should behave.
The defining factor of this situation is how the client is behaving. It is important to
separate that behavior from yourself. The client is being unreasonable. You shouldn’t join them
in being unreasonable, especially because this may embolden their behavior. The contracted
project is probably representative of a significant revenue for your business, so you may be
justified in your frustration, and it would be human to react in kind. But it’s important to remain
calm and professional. Also, you shouldn’t cave because this may reinforce the client’s behavior
and embolden them to do this even more.
For every action there is a reaction. We cannot choose how others behave, but we can
choose how we react to those behaviors. In this situation you, the business owner, should remain
calm and professional. Do not cave on the client’s demands. Calmly restate the facts and your
perspective. Perhaps send additional invoices to reinforce the debt obligation. And if you really
want to go the extra mile, offer the client a full walkthrough/breakdown of the project. Kill them
with kindness. If you react with similar behavior, they may be intimidated and back down, or
they may be emboldened. The other possibility is that, if you react aggressively the client might
want this so that they can then claim some legitimacy to their grievance. Whatever the
possibility, the only reliable choice is to remain calm and professional.
In this scenario frustration is completely justified, but even still the responsibility is on
you to react properly. You cannot control how other people behave. You can only control
yourself. So, take a moment before you respond, and consider the consequences of your action,
even if the client doesn’t. Perhaps especially if the client doesn't. At the end of the day, there is
probably a contractual obligation for the project, and so if the client remains uncompliant there
are other options and avenues for a more serious response. Just keep calm and carry on.