Bitterly we roll along

I am in one of those moods today. I must apologize- once again you've been warned.

I was thinking about one of the last evil friends that I had the misfortune of making. Back in the day. The moral to this story is - never, never, never make a friend of a client. It will bite you in the ass. Especially if she is somewhat psychotic.

So we were building a site for this particular specimen of vanishing sanity. She was a handful. She would call at least 4-5 times/day and want to have lengthy discussions about nothing in particular with whomever answered the phone. I stepped into this one by being the phone answerer. And we chatted. And then she started using my email account as her instant messenger. Thank GOD I never actually got onto IM with her- it would've doomed me.

So as things developed, she was funny, witty and very obsessed with celebrities. (gotta hand it to her- she had met a few- but over time, she did trot out those encounters and bleed them for every bit of significance possible). I just figured that she was very lonely, didn't know anyone in town, and would be a decent friend.

Well. Things got hairy after a while. She became a full-time occupation. Not only did I have to deal with her at work, while trying to function fully- but she insisted on an hour long phone call after work to recap the day. It was like having my own needy wife. And it got to me. If I was busy with something and couldn't talk to her about the nail polish she found that day, she got snippy. It was not so good.

I'll finish the saga later- I'm getting a little pissed off. It wasn't all fun and games! Remember- beware the client friendship....