Wow. Someone here is unfamiliar with the concept of a grocery store?

So... they wanted it done by a professional, but she offered to do it herself? You can't have it both ways! Does not compute.

"But my sanity, clearly, is never a priority."

Dear FD:

The problem you see stems from the fact that you are dealing with people who have long ago lost THEIR sanity. Therefore, it never crosses their non-existent minds to give yours a thought!

People are an amazing bunch.

Have a drink... or two... or more.

ahhh, I feel your pain. Just last night a bride sent me an e-mail - she would love to hire me (I do hair and makeup) - BUT - she's on a budget - could she just do away with the trial consultation fee ? (In which I work with her hair and makeup and find what style she likes for 3+ hours so that it's perfect on the big day)

Of course, she could just send me some photos....

I'll bet she works for free all the time - why shouldn't we?

Well at least she didn't buy her food at Costco then ask to 'borrow' your knives and meat slicer so she could do it herself. I worked at a bike shop in a former life and was always amazed at people who thought our tools were in the public domain. "Hey, I have a flat tire, can I borrow some tools to fix it?" Do people who work at office jobs ever have people coming in off the street "Hey I just gotta send a quick e-mail, mind if I just borrow your computer for a minute?" Probably the same person who goes to a restaurant and orders a salad and a coffee (with free refills) and feels the $10 bill entitles them to keep the table occupied for the entire evening.

You always make me laugh out loud--and remember why I got out of the hotel convention planning business! I remember one wedding reception we had where they wanted us to serve 3 oz steaks so they could cut the cost to chicken. I said "So you want the hotel to look like we're serving a skimpy portion?" The bride's mother said "Well no." I said "So you want the servers to tell your guests that you're too cheap or can't afford to serve them a whole steak?" "Well, no. I guess it's better that the hotel looks bad." Yeah. I said "Well, I guess it's better that you choose between chicken or a venue that's more appropriate to your budget."

Image is everything.

In another lifetime, I had a deli and catered. One of our items was a build-you-own meat & cheese platter done on a round platter to resemble a flower. The per person price included bread & condiments. I can't tell you how many times people wanted to order the platter (they were darn pretty) but wanted a discount so they could buy their own bread & condiments. One woman having a party on her boat in the harbor actually told me that she and all her friends didn't eat bread so I could deduct it from her bill. I told her to feed it to the seaguls.

"sliced meets?" "meets"?

Pray tell you didn't attend college. If you did, they didn't teach you how to do catering but other things more likely: reading, writing, mathematics.

This is not sloppy, this is not bad grammar, it shows how UNEDUCATED you are.

This is America's greatest problem: a lack of education for all and diploma-granting for all.

Jordana (from Paris)

Wow. Jordana needs to pull the sliced "meats" out of her ass.

"This is America's greatest problem: a lack of education for all and diploma-granting for all."

I don't think that is America's greatest problem by FAR. Far be it for me (Malaysia) or you, Jordana (French) to say, but I hardly think using "meets" instead of "meats" signifies the end of the civilized world.

You know what she meant, I know what she meant. Big deal!

Perhaps, you know, France's greatest problem is a lack of civility and understanding for all!

Incidentally, the first "for all" in your sentence is redundant. You'd have been better off typing "a lack of education and diploma-granting for all.".

Oh... my... gawd. You are writing a book aren't you? Please tell me this is going in the book...