Is friendship a good mix with work? Just like when oil doesn't mix with water. It's especially difficult when two people do the same thing for work and, both are driven in their own way. When is it considered one is better then the other or more ambitious then the other? or even on the same level? But what level are we referring to? Is it when one does the profession full time and more often or is it the other person who just sits back and lets things come to them?
I recently bumped into a good old friend of mine while running errands. We ended up having dinner and just catching up. I was explaining to her my situation about how recently I have decided to mix friendship with work. I've never done it before so, I figured what's the worse that can happen? Well...silly me! My friend who I was venting to made a valid point she as, well works in the fashion industry. She said to me
" We have never work together nor will we ever and that's why we are still good friends till this day. It's just something you don't do!" It was plain and simple and to the point and for some odd reason I, needed to hear it from someone else so, the logic could get through my head.
So here's the problem....
I have accumulated a lot of things from doing photo shoots that I either just kept for more use out of it or that I couldn't return it. My friend was in the same boat. We are both freelance stylist so, it made sense with the both of us to just pile everything together so we can have one big "stylist closet" Now before all of this great decision that I made. Our friendship was great. We were new friends, getting to know each other and hanging out a few times out of the week to talk about everything. As, I've mention before I'm not an accessory type of stylist but, my friend is. So I had more clothes that I've kept from shoots and she had the stock with accessory's. We decided to keep everything at her place since she had a separate room for it all which made sense to me anyways. She had a fairly flexible schedule just like mine. So, I was free to give her a call anytime to stop by and "pull" from the closet. At the same time I didn't want to feel like I was being a pest. So, I pull the stuff that I need for my coming up shoots. Some of it was accessories, stockings, shoes etc. Now from pervious shoots that I've done who I've pulled from boutique stores or designers I've always told them as apart of my own personal agreement that if anything is damaged or if they aren't happy with the way the garments are brought back to them I would personally be more then happy and willing to either pay for the product full price or replace it if I could. After my shoots I met up with my friend to return everything that I have borrowed. I've misplace some stockings (one part of it) and misplaced a bracelet. I know I could replace the stockings since, they weren't a speciality type of stocking. So I did. The bracelet I was going to take the time to clean my car and place to find it since I know its somewhere.When meeting up with her I was honest with her right off the bat and explained myself about the stockings apologized and said I need to do a throughly clean and look for the bracelet. I personally didn't think it was a big deal with replacing the stocking. But, instead I got am attitude and a sour face. I completely understand with treating the stylist closet as a regular pull from anywhere else. But, I REPLACED all the missing items out of my own pocket. The items I replaced are the exact same style, pair, color as, the original item. But since we are friends does that change everything??
Ever since the last meet up we haven't been in communication since. I'm busy with my own work and styling and I'm sure she is as well. But, at the same time my friend and I have worked together by helping each other on each others shoots and, that never seemed to be a problem at all.
Maybe there's someone out there that can give me some advice on how to go on about this. My friend that I vented out to gave me the logical advice saying that I should just pull all my stuff out remain friends with the other girl and to NEVER mix work with friends.
In the mean time I've posted up some cool quotes and photos referring to this post that I found inspirational, witty, and funny. My next shoot is a night shoot! FINALLY I've been waiting a long time its going to be AWESOME! I just saw a preview photo from ben from the athletic shoot which will be up soon! after the night shoot its beach shoot!!
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Friday, July 30, 2010
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i say pull all your stuff out of the 'stylist closet' and remain friends with the girl. cuz if anything happens again with one of you ruining something, it could ruin your relationship. and take people like me shopping to help you accessorize shop! :)
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