[Charlotte]

VP I understand your sentiment, and obvjectively speaking I agree with you. But you have to look at things from the amateur's point of view as well. Bear in mind that you have passed that stage and reached the professional stage, where you CAN ask to be paid what you're worth. An amateur (a) has no idea what s/he is worth, and (b) does not have the confidence to stand his/her ground with regard to being paid, mainly because of the point I raised in "(a)" but also because s/he knows that s/he is likely to lose the "job" completely, which - although this may not seem important to you, as a professional - may be important to that amateur for one reason or another (experience, enjoyment etc.).