Bust a deal, face the wheel.

After choosing 'Trees' to be the subject of my 'Initiate' brief, I remembered speaking to Beth Knowles at the Manchester Print Fair. She's a Manchester Councillor and runs a charity called 'A New Leaf', whose aim is to increase the greenery in central Manchester by planting trees. I prefer doing a live brief to a plain old academic exercise, so I decided to offer my services.
I met Beth at her office in January to discuss the selling of my work to raise funds. She liked what I'd done so far, and off I went to continue with the brief. I promiswed her product for the next print fair in April
Fast forward to April, and due to the string of catastrophes I'd been subject to I hadn't got anywhere near as much product as I intended. But I marched off to the People's History Museum, venue for the print fair, with an armload of my best stuff.
Beth wasn't there - she was stuck on a train between London and here, so I dropped my stuff on the desk of Alessandra Mostyn, Beth's oppo. She hadn't a clue who I was, but with some bemusement said she'd lay out the prints for anyone to buy.

Plenty looked, but no-one bought as far as I know. And that, it would appear, was that.
I haven't contacted them since - no time, as the disasters haven't abated - and they haven't contacted me. So with the finishing post looming, and with having to work for a living only weeks away, it's tempting to write it off. After all, who wants to work for free?
But I won't.
Why?
Because it isn't a good precedent to set.
I said I'd do it. It's public knowledge that I made this offer. I don't want to get a reputation for unreliability. I don't like people breaking their word to me, so I don't do it to them.
In the film Mad Max 3 the post apocalyptic market town run by Tina Turner had a policy to ensure straight dealing - Bust a deal, face the wheel. They spun a wheel to decide the grisly fate of the deal-breaker, with options like death or amputation.
Sounds fair enough to me.