[Drago]

"I had an interesting experience along these lines. A pimp contacted me about an opportunity (w2 contract) that sounded interesting. I blazed through the interview process and the client loved me. The he calls to tell me the client wants me... but he lowballs me - bad. What's fun is he doesn't know that I know how the game is played, so I get the standard "the highest the client can go is $X" routine. No - in real life, the rate is decided between the client and the pimp ahead of time, and the pimp's job is to find the person who can fill the client's need while leaving as much money in the pimp's pocket. I decline the offer. For the next week, the pimp hounds me, each time with "I talked to the client and..." or "I talked to my manager and..." and bumping the rate a few $, but I finally had to tell him "no" out of principle. Yeah, I should have taken the gig - it would have been interesting, but I knew I could get more money elsewhere. One exchange I'll never forget was when he said "How about you work for 3 months @ $X; if you're as good as you say you are, we can talk about an increase." I told him. "It's because I'm as good as I say I am that I want $Y" The best part was revealing to him that I had extensive knowledge of the game, and that I'd dated a pimpette for a while who worked in the same office he did. I'm a bastard, but the look on his face when I dropped the bomb was priceless."

That is fantastic. The game is just that, a game. Take 'em for all your worth, everytime.