In two decades, I’d only been stiffed three times. The first was a producer who told me, candidly, that he had paid his coke dealer instead of paying me. I told him I understood, as cocaine is a helluva drug. The second time was a humor magazine that folded its print edition after commissioning my piece. They asked if I’d been willing to let then run it on their website, without pay. I told them that was the funniest thing they’d ever come up with. The third time was my former client, Deadbeat Disruptors, LLC.