Famous person I hate wants to buy my widgets

Sell or tell them to go jump?

[HRoth]

A famous blowhard--I mean, person whom I despise--has ordered some widgets from me. Has this ever happened to others out there? Did you just send the widget and keep your mouth shut about what a braying jackass/vile human being you think they are? I know that's the professional way to behave, but I am so tempted right now not to be professional. What would you do?

[mack]

Its a customer who has placed an order. Treat it like any other order.

Mack.

[Staffa]

Exactly as Mack says.

Are you in business to make money/a living or to alienate your customers. Who knows if he likes your widgets who else he might refer to your site.

[rachel123]

You could cut off your nose to spite your face, but I think you already know that would be self-destructive behavior. ;)

Send it. And if it's a person who would have the ability to take your business from a one-man deal to something bigger overnight with a recommendation to his/her followers, follow up and make sure they liked it.

If it's someone with an Oprah-like following, I might even send it for free along with a lie about how awesome I think the person is.

[MrHard]

Keeping them from benefiting from your widgets just because you dislike them intellectually or emotionally, there's something wrong there.

If it was a famous killer or thief, however, I would not send knives or a lock pick set.

[tangor]

You are in business. Keep some things in check. Then again, why give the the disagreeable person any ammunition to use against you? ("I wanted to buy this widget, but this idiot didn't want to sell it to me, so I'm telling all my friends!")

That kind of advertising you don't need!

[phranque]

two questions:
is your dislike of famous guy relevant to the widget business?
what color is famous guy's money?

[piatkow]

If this is just physical goods then take the money. If it is something that is going to involve personal contact and you really don't trust yourself to stay detached then find a legitimate sounding excuse to turn it down.

[rocknbil]

Right, his money is as good as anyone else's . . . however, you can turn this to your advantage if you can get past your differences . . . the only exception to what I'm about to suggest might be if that association would give your widget a bad name, like kid's products associated with "the adult industry".

Your dislike for this person is blocking your vision, there is an opportunity here you're not seeing. I deal with many clients I don't like, but they are not my friends. They are business associates. I wouldn't say I hate them, but some of them certainly hold beliefs I am dead against or their style just grates me (as I'm sure mine does to others . . . )

If this person is famous as you say, you could turn this to your advantage. Give them to him in exchange for a national plug. It could change your life.

Unless that makes you feel dirty . . . . then just go with the sale.

[HRoth]

This person has made a lot of money attacking something that has been an important part of my life and the lives of many other people for many years. This person has carried out that attack by using lies, is funded by big corporate money, and has a creepy cult-like following. This person is scum, in my bookk--not a criminal, but definitely a liar and a skeev. But I decided to send this person the widgets with no comment. It does make me feel creepy, but I could not justify another response. Thanks for listening. I will now go take a shower.

[buckworks]

Was it really the famous person, or just an ordinary bloke who happened to have the same name?

[dickbaker]

You've already shipped the product, so there's no going back.

If you felt so strongly about it, you could have told a white lie and said the product was unavailable or something like that.

There's plenty of jerks in the world, and I've had to put up with my share. I draw the line at doing something that conflicts with my values, though. If selling the person the product contributed in any way to a cause I was opposed to, I wouldn't do it.

[tangor]

I sell to anybody, even those who tick me off. I laugh all the way the bank. I got his money, he got product. Period. That is assuming that the product I sold would not take the life of another human being. And...

Even then, I might have sold it anyway. One is either in business or they are evangelists. Evangelists rarely have funds enough to continue their "work." I need work, these days, considering all the politics out there, here and there, and scaring the krap out of me.

[HRoth]

Yeah, buckwords, it was the real deal. I checked.

tangor, one of the reasons why I have my own business is because I do want to be an "evangelist," as you put it. This, IMO, is one of the beauties of the NOT being a big corporation. I want to be able to make decisions that are not always based on the bottom line. If I were in it solely for the money, I would be doing something else entirely.

That said, I decided this was not worth the possible danger that might come from the cult-like followers if the famous person became ticked off. I have seen this famous person's zombies patrolling Amazon reviews looking for people to attack and lurkin in forums waiting to hound someone, etc. But I still feel creepy about it.

[rocknbil]

I will now go take a shower.

LOL . . . that answers my question. :-)

[Rugles]

We get famous people ordering from us frequently. Sometimes we don't like the person but we give them the best service anyways. Because you never know who they are going to tell about your product and the quality of service.

One time ... we had the former VP place an order (his last name starts with a C and ends with a Y). Of course he is a very polarizing person but he got the best service we could offer despite what we thought of the man.

[HRoth]

Now if it were him, I would not have had to come here and ask about what should I do.:)