When engaging someone for their creative services, it’s only right to pay them for their work.
This should apply to companies that engage an employee to do something that’s vastly different from their usual job scope.
Unfortunately, this supposedly wasn’t the case for a part-time photographer who agreed to take corporate photos for his company.
Source: No Revisions on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only
Afterwards, his company allegedly paid him only S$30 for the photos, prompting him to quit his job with a 24-hour notice period.
According to a post on Singapore-based anonymous confessions page SGWhispers, a corporate employee was requested to take photos for his company’s database, website, and profile.
Source: Facebook
His superiors had asked for his help after finding out he also works as a photographer outside of office hours.
When he broached the topic of payment, they allegedly said that they were in a rush to get the photos out and promised to “discuss the price later”.
Upon hearing so, the employee went ahead and executed the photo shoots.
Throughout the process, the employee claimed that he solely used his own equipment, from the DSLR camera to the lenses to the tripod.
Source: Dollar Gill on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only
Asked to “use his creativity”, he also took a wide variety of shots, from corporate portraiture to outdoor photos.
This culminated in 18 photography sessions.
He supposedly also had to edit all the photos himself using Adobe programs Lightroom and Photoshop.
In addition to that, he researched editing styles and presets that would suit the company.
With all the photos he took, the OP needed more time to edit the pictures. However, his superiors allegedly pushed him to rush the process but still “make it nice”.
In the end, he managed to finish editing over 600 photos in the span of three weeks.
Despite the company’s promise to discuss the price later, that conversation never came even after months, said the OP.
It was then that he decided to be proactive and invoiced the company for S$1,800, or S$100 per photography session.
He admitted that this was “very cheap” for corporate shots and less than what he normally charged outside of work.
On top of that, he even stated that the price was negotiable.
A week later, he claimed that the company gave him just S$30 along with a note thanking him for his hard work.
The S$30 proved to be the final straw for the OP, who claimed that he almost always worked overtime and never took medical leave.
He said he had always been patient with his company’s treatment of him, but drew the line at getting paid S$30 for his photos.
For him, it was not only about the end product, but also about the equipment, skills, and time he had invested that made him feel shortchanged.
In comparison, he could normally earn S$150 for photographing a “simple wedding”.
Besides that, it also angered him to think that his superiors never tried to negotiate his initial price with him and decided that his services were only worth S$30.
Insulted by the alleged payment, the OP revealed that he rejected the S$30. He then resigned immediately with a 24-hour notice period.
He left the office building afterwards and purportedly deleted all his photos from the company’s server as a final act of justice for himself.
Since then, his company has purportedly tried to convince him to stay as they considered him one of their best employees.
However, the OP declared he is steadfast in his resolve and says he has learnt his lesson to never trust anyone who asks him to do something first and discuss prices later.
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Featured image adapted from Unsplash, for illustration purposes only.
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