New Ink! Issue With Tattoo Artist

Hey Hip Forums Fam -

Hope all is well. I am planning on getting some new ink in early December, and wanted to get your feedback on an issue I'm dealing with. In order to for you to fully appreciate the situation, I have to give you bit of context around the situation. Bear with me -- I will make this as painless as possible...

I came across a tattoo artist on Instagram when searching for artists who specialize in black and grey; shading, etc. We will call him "Dave". After exchanging a couple messages, Dave and I scheduled an in-person meeting at his shop about two hours away from my house. When we met, I told Dave what I wanted to get done (black and grey: inside forearm -- modern style/detailed Grim Reaper; outside forearm -- hour glass intertwined with scorpion), and also showed him a few pics that I had in my phone for points of reference. I told Dave that I thought he was very talented, and that I was open to suggestions on how to incorporate everything in order to get the best result. Dave seemed to like what I was going for, and also mentioned that he enjoyed doing skull work, so the Grim Reaper and dark tone/style would be right up his alley. We agreed that it might take more than one session to do all of this, and we could start planning ahead now as far as booking sessions. (He is typically booked two-three months out) "Perfect!" I thought. I told Dave that I would also like to get my other forearm done, and eventually, have him integrate my existing work on both arms, creating sleeves, but we could wait to discuss that until the first forearm was finished. In total, I told him I was flexible concerning a budget, but would like to stay around $2.5K, give or take. Dave seemed to be happy with this, and asked me to email him the pics I shared with him (that were in my phone), and other than that, we would look forward to seeing one another in early December. I put down a small deposit with my credit card, and felt confident that I had finally found the perfect artist! I had talked to three different artists prior to connecting with Dave, so I was definitely happy about this...

As requested, I sent Dave an email, the following day recapping our discussion and included the pics I shared with him in person. In my email, I also shared that I would like to get the word "Karma" in cursive writing underneath the Grim Reaper, and a peony flower intertwined with the Scorpion and hour glass. I realized that I had forgotten to mention the peony flower and "Karma" to Dave when we met in person, but didn't think much of it b/c the word "Karma" was going to be pretty small (literally about half an inch in height), and the peony flower was already included in one of the hour glass pics attached to my email (which was the same pic I showed him in person). In addition, in my email, I mentioned that he could follow this exact same format (of the attached pic) when incorporating the peony flower. These were minor additions; and our appointment was two months away, so I again, I didn't think this would be a big deal. Well, boy was I wrong.....here's where things went a bit sideways....

About a week later, Dave responded to my email, quite harshly, saying that "I was changing things, and the whole purpose of an in-person consult is to agree on work to be done BEFORE booking an appointment--not after". He said he would need me to "come back in to the shop, so we could re-discuss the work to be done", and he "did not want to consider booking any additional appointments until he knew exactly what he was going to be doing". He concluded by saying he gets "a ton of emails, and doesn't want to spend hours going back and forth on email".......just WOW man......

I get it -- this all may sound a bit petty, but the overall tone of the email was just really rude, and he kind of did a 180 on me. I'm a humble, self aware person, so feel free to tell me if this is on me, and I will accept it. I am just shocked at the tone of his email. I am adding two minor items.....which, based on his skills, should be very easy.....c and he's having me drive two hours to explain that??

Thanks for your feedback-
JohnBlaze