Many moons ago, when I was an internet-addicted high school student, I would see people with beautiful Livejournal layouts, profile photos, and backgrounds. Most were painstakingly created in Photoshop, dappled with effects that range from artfully old and coffee stained to seemingly glowing from within. The artists responsible would usually take commissions, either in the form of actual money or via trades. I could never afford such a luxury. Instead I became friends with other fan fiction enthusiasts who knew their way around a photo editing program and felt compelled to do nice things for me. I never, ever, asked anyone to do the work for free. It was clear even to a nerdy teen that it would be the wrong approach. Sadly, much of the world actually believes that artists and designers love their work so much that they would do commissions out of the kindness of their hearts. These people are wrong.

Twitter user @YanchaGogo shared a great example of this type of entitlement yesterday. It comes in the form of a text exchange where someone asks an artist if they can make a drawing in their likeness. The artist ( who is not @YanchaGogo) replies that they can – for the price of fifteen dollars. The message’s sender said they couldn’t pay, and after the artist sent a cheery and polite response the sender actually pretended to be their own mother, claiming that their child died in a car crash. Naturally, this led to a request for free art as a ‘»funeral gift.»

The absurd message inspired other users to share similar exchanges, both of people pretending to have died in text messages (to get something they want) and of people who demand the world for the small price of free.