Okay, this is a thing that happened to me many, many years ago and maybe at the time, I should have been aware of what these people were like. I’m being vague, because calling out people is not something I will do.
This is about being thankful even if.
Story 1: So, I found a person in a discord server recently. I saw a certain thing was still going on. Username different. Request, the same. I remembered the trouble I went through to try to please that person a long time ago, and them not being satisfied. I tried again, and again, and then they ended up doing it on their own, and without thanking me for my efforts.
Story 2: A user asked for a cover from me, and kept rejecting the covers I spent hours making. They would reject, not say thank you, and keep coming back.
They would say strange things. “oh sorry, I decided not to write the story…and here’s another request.” or “oh sorry, I forgot to tell you I don’t want the cover. Here’s another request for a different story.” Eventually, I realized maybe they don’t get it that it takes hours. So, I told them it takes hours. They said they understood, then requested for another cover.
And you know what? A month later they tell me they decided not to write the story. And they didn’t thank me. Then a few weeks later, they came again. I rejected them. Enough is enough.
Both of these were many, many years ago.
Both have something in common: not thanking even if.
If someone does something for you, even if it ends up not being what you want, you should thank them first. First, before anything. Really important. Because it matters for future relations. Now I will never do anything for the person of Story 1. How am I to trust my efforts won’t be acknowledged? Clearly they can do it on their own and don’t need my help
For Story 2, you can see it. I rejected them when they came again. Enough is enough. Because after so many times, how can I believe they won’t reject the cover and not say thank you?
From those two stories, you can see them not at least thanking me for my efforts really hurt our relations. Even after all these years, if those people came to me for help, I don’t know if I can trust them. I would think they might still take advantage of me.
Am I paranoid? Or am I reasonable?
Sorry for that little rant, but seeing person from Story 1 asking people for similar help that I gave them years ago reminded me of the incident.