Last week, two boxes arrived for my children from Amazon. A dear friend of mine emailed me and told me she had sent them each a book. And she was wise enough to know that opening the box is part of the delight. So she sent two separate boxes. I brought them in from the front porch and they squealed with delight. My six year old son, the gentle Pleaser starts saying, “Oh, I hope it’s not clothes. I mean, if it is, that’s okay, but I hope it’s something really good. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I just don’t want it to be clothes.” He was delighted at his set of Flat Stanley books.

My four year old daughter, sassy and outspoken, opens up her box, sees the book, and immediately crosses her arms over her chest, drops the bottom lip and sulks, “I didn’t want that! I wanted a Barbie!” Okay, first of all, your mother has some real issues with your idolization of Barbie and does not support her quest to infiltrate your little brain. Second of all, with THAT attitude, you can go tot your room until you learn how to be grateful. She finally came around and in five minutes, we were reading her new book and she was thrilled with it. We are working on the ‘Tudes: Gratitude and Attitude.

This is an ongoing struggle in my house. If I give them ice cream, they want sprinkles. If they have milk, they want some chocolate in it. If they have one cookie, they want two. Nothing makes me crazier than never thinking enough is enough. So, back in April (3 months ago), I developed a relationship with a new client. She was concerned about our recruiting fee and I dropped it. We also offered them a discount on the fee if they paid within 5 days. Fast forward to this week and the candidate I found for them has started and we sent the bill. She shoots me an email indicating they’d like to pay the fee over the course of a year (!) and she thought the discount was on the percentage and not on the fee.

I responded with clarification and advice to read the original contract. Remember that? The one where I offered two discounts even for clients who consistently reschedule and drag their feet? Even for little searches that take three months? Even when you low-ball my candidate but agree to pay him more in 6 months so you can reduce your recruiting fee which is based on the original offer? The relationship we have with our clients is important to us and we often make concessions up front as good faith that we are serious about working together. So when it ends like this, it feels a little like I set you up with ice cream and tossed in the sprinkles for free and now you are throwing a tantrum for caramel and marshmallows. It makes me want to put you in Time Out and declare no more ice cream for you until you can find your manners, Missy.