You know they wanted a pony, right?

Yeah.

Just making sure.

Is there a problem with the pony?

They said it was a horse.

It is not a horse. It’s a pony.

Which is what I said. But they said it looks like a horse, not a pony.

But it looks just like their art materials!

Hey, man, I know.

So what about it didn’t they like?

Horse-y.

What, specifically, didn’t they like?

They thought it was just too big, I think.

If it were smaller the whole toy would…

So how do we fix it?

I tell you what. I’m going to make you another prototype.

Smaller?

Nope. Same mold.

And when they say it looks too horse-like and not pony enough?

They won’t.

Uhm?

Take the new model, which will be a different color and have a marker so they know it’s a new prototype. You hand it to them and tell them it is more pony-like now.

And they’re going to just believe it?

Pretty much. This thing looks exactly like the concept art they gave us, down to the sizing we all agreed on and that they approved with our mock-ups.

But they don’t think it works.

They don’t know what they think. They’re just being clients. If we show them what they want, but tell them we’ve changed it to be what they want instead of what it was…

Which was already what they wanted.

Sure. But this time they’ll feel like they had a hand in it.

That’s disturbing.

Sure, but it’ll work. It always works. They end up satisfied. We end up doing the job right. Everyone wins.

Except for my innocence. My innocence loses.

Oh, go ask Mark how bad it gets. You’re just filling in on this one client. IT gets way worse.

People suck.

Only when they don’t pay on time.