"Every person who you meet once, you'll meet again." I have heard the phrase too many times before, rephrased in many ways and from professionals of various fields.
Weeks ago, I was in correspondence with a photographer for her project and exhibit and we've scheduled to work together for one of her shoots. I've noticed and mentioned to her I found her name very familiar as thought we've talked before one way or another in a vague memory.
When I went to her Facebook Page to view her portfolio, I realised I've already "Liked" it, confirming my suspicions.
This drove me crazy.
I wanted and needed to know where I've dealt with her.
So, I dug up old messages.
It turns out, almost two years ago when I was looking to restart a local portfolio, she was one of the photographers I contacted for TFP. She turned me down sweetly, saying she was buried in backlogs of photos needing to be processed on top of work and school. I found this nice and very professional. Plenty of working professionals will simply ignore enquiries to which they know they won't partake in nor benefit from.
Thus said, the other day, I received a message from her asking if I was able to join her shoot for the same night and she was on a hunting mission for a make-up artist(MUA) as her MUA cancelled on her. Now, this day was already so long and tiring for me and if I were to jump on board, it was going to get longer. I could say no and there will be no harm on my part. On the other hand, I remember how nice and professional she was to me before and decided I would love to work with this person.
Sure, I'm no bigwig to be in a position to say "Hah! See, you HAVE to be nice to me!" but in the end, I was in a position to make her day or keep her hunting stressfully. Baby Food for Creatives writes on how you should be nice to EVERYONE, no matter of what career position they're in. Here's also a story and example from her.
For me, being nice should be just plain instinct and part of personality. Regardless of whether it's for your career or not, why not be nice?
I'm no Pope and I do have my complaints and secret-mental-cursing about people but doesn't mean I'll use it as a reason to be rude and obnoxious. Express these things to a loved one, a sibling, maybe your lover, maybe your teddy bear. Someone you trust and knows you're not saying these things out of spite and backstabbing but mostly to release your frustrations.
Even when working with someone whose output makes you want to pull out your hair, there is what we call constructive criticism. There's no need to go mental and be on a psychotic killing spree. I believe there is nothing wrong with sitting down and telling someone what they're doing wrong, how they've offended you or pissed you off.
Of course, if the person in question of being nice to is someone who randomly grabbed your bottom, then forget niceness and feel free to fully unleash the kraken. I'd do this because I know there is no way in my life I would have any desire to work with this kind of person nor actually want to purr my way into his favor even if he turns out to be the king of the world.
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