More Entitled Than Thou

I've got a bitter taste in my mouth beyond the lack of opportunity to brush my teeth. Would you ever consider going to a grocery store, filling your cart, taking that cart through the check-out, loading the groceries into your car and then on the way home phoning the store manager to tell her you think their prices are too high and that you expect a credit to your account but will not be returning the items refunded? Would you ever think to do that? No, you wouldn't. If you don't have time to go to Trader Joe's and just have to go to Zupan's in a pinch, you might cringe at the prices and vow to make more time for shopping. You might even comment on their high prices to anyone willing to listen. I really, truly doubt that you would ever expect a refund on something you purchased and expect to keep.

This is the nature of my job. I deal with Production Coordinators and Managers that want everything last minute, consistently sending their orders in at end of day for the next morning. I then work after regular business hours to supply them with an order form that states all prices clearly. They submit their order. I send them an estimate. I pack the truck and acquire any specialty items requested. Routinely they call back after they pick up the truck and begin their jobs and say it's too high and want to remove some items from the invoice. I've gone to great lengths to insure our rates are comparable to rental houses all over the country. Production supplies are not durable goods. By the time they pay for themselves, the profit window is very small before they have to be replaced. Since we're supplying equipment to production companies that are making commercials, you know selling things, I don't think it's out of the question to expect to make a profit on our end.

I have a problem with entitlement. These people are producing a television commercial. There were phone calls Sunday morning to me about this. I'm being disturbed to discuss saving some corporation/ad agency/production company a thouand dollars. On an average national commercial budget of 250,000, that's 4/10 of 1%.

No thank you. I don't want anything to do with this shit. Especially since part of my recent raise depends on that profit margin. Without a share in a reasonable profit, I'm an over-worked, highly stressed wage earner that gets phone calls from a poncy PM making his full day rate.
Are you working from the good of your heart on this mate?
Nuh uh. Seriously thinking of putting in the notice today.

Full of vim and vinegar,
Signore Direttore