You would pay your doctor after an appointment, so why wouldn’t you pay an artist who provided a service for you?
Artist Chaboy dela Cruz practically asked this question after posting screenshots to Facebook of a conversation with a woman that is both hilarious and frustrating at once. The post has since garnered over 47,000 shares.
The woman, identified by her first name as Fhatima, wanted to commission dela Cruz for a drawn portrait of a selfie she sent him over Messenger — but balked as soon as he requested payment.
“Son, which of these are better?” She asks him after sending him two selfies online.
“What is this for?” Dela Cruz asks, before answering that he preferred the second photo.
“OK, then draw that please. I will wait for it on Wednesday,” the woman answers.
“Will you pay?” The artist asks.
“Do I have to?” The woman retorts, and soon sends a screenshot of a bible passage from Hebrews 13:5-8, which reads, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
“Son, don’t allow yourself to sell your soul to the devil just for a few wads of cash,” she follows up.
“Oh it’s not like that, everyone just really needs to pay for the service if they want to have a portrait done. I can give you a discount, but I can’t do it for free,” he replies.
“Just do the portrait, son,” she asks, before following up with, “What is your real name, please?”
The post quickly went viral online. While many found the exchange amusing, others found the idea of not paying artists their worth exasperating.
“Sigh, misusing the bible verse and misinterpreting it. The artist is just making an honest living so that in the end, he can rise above his circumstances,” one wrote.
