I did a website for a NYC residential builder way back in 2011. We went through a whole design process and coded up a good looking site for him.
He apparently didn’t review it much during the process but a few days before launch sent a long list of changes he wanted. That’s not unusual, but he also wanted to stick to the launch date. I wrote back and said we couldn’t make everything happen by then, but would do what we could.
I worked pretty much constantly for those last few days, put off other work, and launched with most of his requests.
He called and tore me a new one. He apparently hadn’t read the list saying what would and wouldn’t be included (too busy he said) so was expecting all his requests and thought I wasn’t taking it seriously. I was apologetic and assured him we’d get it fixed, right up until he started cussing and demanded hourly check-ins from me personally by phone until the changes were complete.
That’s not how my field works, so it was way out of what’s normal and expected. I realized he was using the same tactics he would use with a subcontractor on one of his jobs, and it probably wouldn’t stop.
He got politely fired. He still uses the site.
Only fired two other clients in 10+ years, one was more of a personality clash with an individual, and the other was a lobbyist and I should have known better. So that’s on me.
I’d rather it was all good relationships and consider all of them personal failures at some level, but there’s no point in dragging something out that will just be nasty for all involved. I think some people actually like the nastiness as part of “business” and that’s never going to be a good match for me. I’ve learned to just decline that work up front now, it’s never worth it.