P. I. A. Charge

Have you ever heard of a PIA charge?  Before we moved to Murrieta, I'd retired and was spending time getting ready for our retirement move.  That meant getting rid of a lot of things that had accumulated over the 30 years we'd been in our Long Beach home.  It wasn't very exciting, and when a local business woman asked me to come to work for her at her picture framing business, I did.  I worked for her for 3 years, two days a week, as a custom picture frame designer.  It was great fun, and I learned about the PIA charge.

Whenever they would have a customer that was a Pain In the Ass, the customer would be quoted a much higher than a normal price than if they'd been a nice customer.  Keep in mind, this was a quote, and the customer could always walk away.  The person giving the quote was hoping they would do just that, walk away.  The theory was, if you're a PIA getting a quote, you'll be a PIA forever.

This week I gave a PIA quote!  I stopped by work to show one of the booksellers a quilt that I had just finished.  Some one asked me if I was a quilter.  When I said, Yes, he asked how much I'd charge to make him a quilt like the one I was holding.  Since I was caught off guard, and not especially looking for a commission, I told him a really high price, essentially a PIA quote.  He said, Forget it, and walked away.

Believe me, my feelings weren't hurt.  Now, he thinks I'm really expensive!