At some point in life, it's almost a guarantee that somebody will try to get you to give them something for nothing.
And unfortunately, this situation goes from an occasional brush with disrespect to a daily occurrence when you're a freelancer in a creative field. Because even when they aren't trying to get away with paying you "in exposure," it's clear that a lot of people have no idea what kind of work goes into bringing their desires to life.
But while it's hardly uncommon for potential clients to want to lowball artists, it's pretty baffling that the person we're about to discuss thought they'd get anywhere with their weirdly insulting proposition.