user: my requirements are very simple

I consider myself a patient person, but today a user danced on my nerves with a conversation that made me feel not a single drop of guilt when I cut her 30-min telephone conversation out, "sorry, I will continue to talk with you another day because I have another user waiting for me".

It started with me having to get a quote from the vendor, so after I gave the quote $X, and my assessment, that I don't recommend the customisation to be done, she sent back this email "your quote was disappointing" and she "wasn't expecting something like this from [my dept]". My supervisor asked me what happened, and I ranted off, which took everyone by surprise, because I normally don't get agitated, at all.

The user started the telephone conversation saying that I have thought too complicated, don't understand her requirements, and repeated a million times, "my requirements are very simple". I let her talk, each time she yadda yadda yadda, I will say, yes, I know this requirement, so at the end of 30 minutes, I said, yes, I have all your requirements, my understanding is just as you have described. She wasn't satisfied, so she tried this argument.

Her: My requirement is very simple. I am not a technical person, so I think in simple terms. I just need blah blah blah...

Me: Yes, I know.

Her: XXX is more technical, so when he relayed my requirements to you, he could have written it in a more complicated way.

Me: Well, he just elaborated on your requirement.

Her: And you are more technical than XX, so when you pass the requirements to [the vendor], you would have made it even more complicated.

Me: I forwarded XXX's email to the vendor directly so that I don't misrepresent the requirements. I had also listed the 5 line items in this requirement which you said were your requirements.

Her: Yes, but it's a very simple requirement. I am not expecting a lot of customisation to be done.

Me: Yes, I know, but I need to manage your expectations that it's not a 1-2k customisation, it's more than that.

Her: It can't be that's expensive. The reason why we approach you for the quote was because we know that scampoint can meet this requirement, and the customisation required is minimal.

Me: If you are saying that I have over scoped your requirement, please let me know which to remove, 1. blah blah, 2 blah blah 3 blah blah....

Her: You see scampoint is such a good product, that's why we are using it, and we just want to be able to use it with minimal customisation that's why we gave you a simple customisation. You know how much we are paying now for our customised scampoint application? It's a lot, that's why we want to move to your scampoint for cost savings, so that we can ride on your maintenance contract, ....

Long story short, this bunch of users went to develop a customised scampoint app because the scampoint intranet cannot meet their needs. Now she is telling me that it's expensive to maintain that app, and it's better to migrate her app into my scampoint intranet, with "a simple customisation", which will save money. I have no issues killing that app of hers because I think that app is really a waste of money, but I just didn't like that she ask for a quote, and after we quote, she said was disappointing.

The conversation was going no where, so I ended it, and then she sent that email, and my supervisor asked me what happened, and I grumbled about what I had just grumbled about. lol

Maybe it's just the timing because I had another user who had an argument with a vendor in the morning over the content design of a page! so a last minute meeting was arranged in the afternoon to settle the issue and I had to be there to be the translator and problem solver. And I left this meeting at 6 pm because I had to rush to fetch yaya, takes me 45 min to arrive, and I need to be before 7 pm. They continued with the meeting. I only provided the solution at 5.45 pm! *close shave* Took me 1 hr 15 min to listen to them argue. After that I bumped into my hirer in the lift, I told her, I am stressed from 6 pm till the moment I leave office. She laughed.

And I had to meet another user in the afternoon to resolve a year-long enhancement discussion that has been stucked for a long time because the cost for the customisation was beyond the user's expectations.

Bad day. I was practically listening to arguments the whole day. And when I fetched yaya at 6.50 pm, she had been crying for 20 minutes after her teacher left at 6.30 pm. So I had to listen to yaya complain the whole night until she slept.