artists_beware | Demanding Commissioner (Reply)

The commissioner I am nearly done with now is quite well known within the fandom(Or he appears to be to me), however, on the occasions we've had to speak for business I have found him very...challenging, for me to personally work with. Now I will admit that I feel more stress due to anxiety problems(Basically my reaction to stress or nervousness is out of proportion), but I don't think I can work with this person.

Now this guy pays appropriately and on time, he also refrains from nagging about 'Is it done yet?'. He paid half in advance for a one character, basic background commission that was largely up to me for details and pose and was to be all digital without any kind of print. All he wanted was the .PSD file.

I have spent the last TWO HOURS tweaking this maddening document. 1) First he complained about the theme of the image and the static pose, after -he specifically- approved it. He said this out of the blue after noting that I was the third person to do it. 2) Then he tells me he's pleased with the image anyway(?). 3) Then he wants some parts of the image tweaked for brightness, which I oblige even though I do think at a certain point one should trust artists discretion, even if you would've chosen another color. Thankfully this is easy to change in photoshop... 4) When I mention that if the image appears dark, that he may wish to brighten his monitor. Mine is set brighter than some to match my printer and I do not currently know of a way to ensure an image looks the same on all monitors. He randomly implies that he has some monitor calibration device that fixes his monitor automatically. I'm not sure what this means, until I realize it implies his monitor is already perfect. He then mentions I should invest in this $150 device that I cannot afford, that I also wouldn't buy right now anyway since that could get me more immediately useful things. I find this rude as well. 5) After two hours, I note that I will continue our incredibly long attempts at transfering this PSD over the internet. I've cut down file sizes for him, tried zipping, several file transfer sites, his iDisk, none of which work. He doesn't want to let me go to bed despite me saying I will go back at the issue tomorrow(It's nearly ten for me) and he also will not accept a CD mailed at no cost to him. 6) About the 'I don't want a CD' thing...he had said that would be fine in the beginning, when I made note before taking his money that I did not know of any other good way to transfer PSDs. Oi.

Now, I'm not sure if any of these things are worth naming him to this community, it may just be that I don't handle that kind of customer well. I do not intend to ever take work from him again however due to the immense frustration I've experienced and the extremely minimal feedback. I'm not sure however what a polite way to turn down work from a single individual is, especially if they press the issue with 'But your commissions are open!' or 'You offered one to JoeSchmoe!'. Does this community have any tips for dealing with people like these or kindly turning them elsewhere?

EDIT: In light of enlightening and helpful discussion here, if this customer(Ksilebo) cannot be happy with a flattened PSD(He desires PSD over JPEG as they are lossless; I also agreed to giving him this full-resolution format), then I will kindly consider the work closed and that it will be his choice whether or not to pay the second half of his work. I don't depend on my art for a living and I can afford to cut this one loss and consider it a big learning experience. I think I have taken adequate measures for this customer(Obeying his detail rules, providing sketches and finalizing them before work starts, providing him with a full size and resolution JPEG) and I don't want to compromise myself for money that isn't worth it.

Thanks muchly for everyone's thoughts, especially the information about why not to give out PSDs. I feel better knowing better.