SERVICE PROVIDER AND CUSTOMER
Never struggle with Show-and-Tell again. Activate your free trial or subscribe to view the Relationship Thesaurus in its entirety, or visit the Table of Contents to explore unlocked entries.
CHOOSE MY PLANHELPFUL TIP:
Relationships are part of the very fabric of your character’s life. How well or poorly they get along with others oftentimes comes down to personality, so carefully consider the positive traits and negative traits of your story’s cast. Another factor that can pull characters together or create friction is motivation, so keep each individual’s goal—both at the scene and story level—in mind as you write.
DESCRIPTION:
Some situations will require a long-term partnership (such as a customer employing an on-call handyman or hiring a repeat freelancer) while others will be short in duration, as in the case of a one-time service call. But even the latter can turn into something more, as we see in stories like The Cable Guy, Stranger than Fiction, and even the cast of Seinfeld's dealings with the local “Soup Nazi.”
RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS:
A purely professional relationship where both parties reach a satisfied outcome
A service provider being hired by a customer who is also a family member or friend
A customer who wants to learn paired with a provider who is willing to share their knowledge
Two chatty parties who get to know each other during a service call
A relationship in which one person is condescending or dismissive
One party being uncommunicative or unavailable
A relationship based on unrealistic expectations (regarding cost, the scope of the problem, time involved to complete the project, etc.)
One party trying to cheat or take advantage of the other
An untrusting customer who expects to be cheated by the provider
CHALLENGES THAT COULD THREATEN THE STATUS QUO:
The service provider going over schedule or budget
The customer posting a bad review of the service provider
Trouble resulting from the service provider having poor social or professional skills
The customer or service provider being late or unavailable
The customer changing their mind about an aspect of a project after work has begun
The service provider delivering a poor outcome that fails to meet the customer's expectations
The service provider being injured on the job
The customer running out of money
The service provider disappearing in the middle of a project
The customer being injured or facing damages as a result of the service they received
The service provider cutting corners by using cheap or unreliable materials
Both parties having differing visions for the project
One party learning something unsettling about the other in the middle of a project
Learning that the service provider has misrepresented their abilities, experience, or credentials