Tenacious D Beats The Catalog Company
I have to admit that I know absolutely nothing about the gentlemen who use the pseudonym “Tenacious D” for their warbling career, apart from the name – but it’s a neat way to use a popular search term in a post about tenacity. Forgive my cynicism, call it “marketing genius” and put it on the shelf, behind the books about lesbian vampires¹.
Since I’ve been babbling on about ways to keep going when your blog is a bit stuck – thanks to a swift kick in the derrière from Steven – I thought I would recount a little victory from yesterday. A victory of tenacity, from a sense of justice and from being downright stubborn.
Many moons ago², my lady and I ran into a little trouble with a catalog company. You know, those wonderful people that allow you to order online and have a courier turn up at your door with fake Armani gear, footstools in the shape of elephants’ feet and teapots made out of old dustbins. We’d ordered on account, paid for some and returned the rest… and they lost it.
Over the weeks that ensued, the company became aggressive. “We want our money!” they shouted. “What money?” we replied – and, under our breath, “Get lost!”
Every time they sent a letter, they charged us. Every month that passed while we argued, they charged us. They called in a debt recovery service, who were equally useless, and charged us for that, too. They talked to solicitors – or at least pretended to. By last month, the bill had gone from about £30 to around £280 – all for a single item of clothing that we don’t have.
Eventually, the company agreed that we had returned most of the goods, but didn’t zero our balance and still harassed us for one final item. That is until yesterday, when another letter arrived. The tone was completely different – all the aggression gone and very conciliatory. They want to settle. They’ve had enough of throwing away money in bureaucracy.
Bear in mind that this is a company who had called in debt recovery, solicitors and a bunch of other folks in the legal business and that’s one heck of a victory. Of course, it helps that we’re in the right – even if we can’t prove it very easily – but it’s still a combination of tenacity and justice that pleases me.
And then it occurred to me: this is just as important in freelancing.
It’s on the list of essential tools. Tenacity: the ability to brow-beat an opponent unceasingly, until they do what you want them to. Politicians, salesmen and people who deal with robot-voiced ISPs have it³. Do you?
¹ I don’t actually own any books like that. Honest. It was another search term. Hah!
² Eleven, actually – ten months, but the moon doesn’t run on the same schedule.
³ That’s you, Paul.
