[originalvichy]

As a person who has worked in many customer-facing jobs, the worst trap I faced numerous times is befriending a paying client. It becomes insanely difficult to say no to a client when hired as an expert for their assistance, when they are a genuinely pleasant person.

It’s made worse when they are not a decision-maker, but someone who gets forced to push me to do something. As a trusted expert, it’s easy to say no to bad ideas when the client is the one doing them, but when the orders come from their boss who you never interact with, you’re placed in a position where you either appear as a useless cost, or a yes-man who’ll leave behind a monstrosity.

I sometimes envy some of you guys who worked primarily internal gigs where you could at least try to reason with someone up the chain.