| Páginas sobre el tema: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: Do you ever reject projects? Please share. Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
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| "and they could send a lot of work after this job" | May 1, 2008 |
Joan Berglund wrote:
Agencies seem to think we would be happy to hear that their cheapest clients may be sending us a lot more work? Is there some reason to think I would like working a lot for bad pay even better than working once in a while for bad pay? Yes, I have turned down work for all the reasons above, especially if two or more are true at once, like unreasonable deadline and bad pay, which often go together.
Yes, I agree. When I read "and they could send a lot of work after this job" when a new customer comes by asking for a quotation for a job... I immediately know they will not answer my quotation email.
| | | | | I think they called me too! | May 1, 2008 |
Rebecca Garber wrote:
And the additional reason: the client acts oddly:
I rejected a job last night after the person waffled on the subject matter. When told that I didn't do legal, she said she'd made a mistake and the subject was financial.
It was also an after hours phone call, with an implied deadline of the following morning.
At any rate, I had a confused-sounding, waffling person on the phone last night too, who called me because they had seen from my CV that I was a financial translator (I do IT and video games). When I pointed this out, she changed her mind and said it was IT... weird!
At any rate, I was too busy to take it this week, so it was moot anyway.
I turn down quite a lot of jobs - probably a couple a week - for all the reasons stated above. I'm usually completely booked for about a week in advance - at the moment I have enough work to last for the next month! (Hooray!)
[Edited at 2008-05-01 19:50]
ETA - I should have said that if it's a job I'm actually interested in doing, but can't fit it in right away, I propose a new deadline and let the agency decide/negotiate with the client.
[Edited at 2008-05-02 10:02]
| | | | | I don't turn down jobs for regular clients | May 1, 2008 |
However, I tell them when I could do it for, and, if that is not soon enough, then they sometimes go elsewhere. They come back again usually, because I did not refuse to accept it.
As for whether or not to accept jobs from a potential customer for whom I have not worked before, there are a lot of different considerations involved in that, e.g. their creditworthiness.
Astrid
| | | | Pamela Cruz 
Chile
Local time: 04:52
inglés al español
+ ...
As Hilary, I turn down many jobs weekly for all the reasons stated above, plus:
An extraordinary one:
Translation of a web site devoted to pornography.
A quite often case indeed, but definitively not my kind of job:
Translation of texts from my mother tongue into my source languages.
Health reasons:
Sometimes I am ill and I have spend a few days away from the PC...
[Editado a las 2008-05-01 20:55]
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| For various reasons... | May 1, 2008 |
1) My services are in high demand...Sometimes I already have too much on my desk, and can't get to your project right now.
2) You still owe me for a project three months ago. Pay my outstanding invoices, and I'll think about it.
3) You've dictated a rate or other terms that are unacceptable to me.
4) The project is outside the scope of my expertise (wrong language, subject matter outside of my knowledge, etc.)
5) You insist I use the same software you use, even though I ... See more 1) My services are in high demand...Sometimes I already have too much on my desk, and can't get to your project right now.
2) You still owe me for a project three months ago. Pay my outstanding invoices, and I'll think about it.
3) You've dictated a rate or other terms that are unacceptable to me.
4) The project is outside the scope of my expertise (wrong language, subject matter outside of my knowledge, etc.)
5) You insist I use the same software you use, even though I can deliver the very same product with MY software.
6) Your document is a plan to take over the world*, or engage in illegal activities (in which case, I notify the competent authorities).
7) You say you will send a bank check for three time my rate, the remainder of which I must remit to your partner in Nigeria, ASAP.
(* I'M going to rule the world! You will never stop me! Muahahahahahahah!!!)
[Edited at 2008-05-01 22:42] ▲ Collapse
| | | | AniseK
Malasia
Local time: 16:52
japonés al inglés
+ ...
Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
However, I tell them when I could do it for, and, if that is not soon enough, then they sometimes go elsewhere. They come back again usually, because I did not refuse to accept it.
As for whether or not to accept jobs from a potential customer for whom I have not worked before, there are a lot of different considerations involved in that, e.g. their creditworthiness.
Astrid
I'm just starting out as a freelancer, and still expanding my client base. So I rarely turn down jobs from my regular customers. I only turn them down when I really can't meet their deadline. But as Astrid said, they usually come back.:-D
As for new customers, I'd accept their offer, if the price is not ridiculously low
, and if I like working for them, I'll keep their contact number in my list.:-)
| | | | Clarisa Moraña
Estados Unidos
Local time: 03:52
Miembro 2002
inglés al español
+ ...
| Another reason | May 2, 2008 |
to give birth!
When I was pregnant of my third son, a translation agency offered me an urgent translation job. I rejected it because I was near the due date. They insisted, and I accepted the job (after having told them I was pregnant). That same night I was giving birth, and my husband had to return the project the next day (no email, there were hard copies).
Two weeks later, the client insisted: it was the same project, but now it wasn't urgent. And they gave me ple... See more to give birth!
When I was pregnant of my third son, a translation agency offered me an urgent translation job. I rejected it because I was near the due date. They insisted, and I accepted the job (after having told them I was pregnant). That same night I was giving birth, and my husband had to return the project the next day (no email, there were hard copies).
Two weeks later, the client insisted: it was the same project, but now it wasn't urgent. And they gave me plenty of time for delivering it.
Kind regards
Clarisa ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Cutler
España
Local time: 10:52
español al inglés
+ ...
| Sales technique | May 2, 2008 |
Joan Berglund wrote:
Agencies seem to think we would be happy to hear that their cheapest clients may be sending us a lot more work? Is there some reason to think I would like working a lot for bad pay even better than working once in a while for bad pay?
I remember the first time I heard that reasoning: "We want to pay less because we have lots of work for you." It never made much sense to me, but I guess it's a sales technique based on many translators' fear of not having work tomorrow.
I came to the conclusion that with that form of reasoning, we may as well get a job flipping burgers or advertise ourselves as McTranslators.
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Cathy Flick
Estados Unidos
Local time: 03:52
Miembro 2004
ruso al inglés
+ ...
| hope springs eternal too often... | May 2, 2008 |
I often have to turn down work because the deadline is too short- the common assumption seems to be that I can process this job in a couple of days because its only 3000 words... But I have a week or two or more of other work already scheduled, so can only take on new work part-time and can't even start until the next week, etc. For some material, I'll offer to do it at a rush rate (50% surcharge) if I am willing and able to push aside other work (to be done evenings or weekends as a result). Us... See more I often have to turn down work because the deadline is too short- the common assumption seems to be that I can process this job in a couple of days because its only 3000 words... But I have a week or two or more of other work already scheduled, so can only take on new work part-time and can't even start until the next week, etc. For some material, I'll offer to do it at a rush rate (50% surcharge) if I am willing and able to push aside other work (to be done evenings or weekends as a result). Usually I'll just tell them the realistic deadine and the price for non-rush and rush, and sometimes they can get their client to extend the deadline. But often they can't.
One problem is that some agencies promise the moon to their end client without considering the difficulty of the subject matter and the difficulty of finding a specialist who can do it on such short notice and the need to be open to rush rates. One client tried to get me to do a section of a highly technical and highly mathematical physics document on a "rolling basis", sending them about 1000 to 2000 words per day starting the next day. I told them that this document was simply unsuitable for a "rolling deadline", that I would need time to get my head back into gear for it (I studied the subject matter in grad school, but long before) and would be making terminology decisions that might be changed once I got to the end of the document. I told them that I could deliver the full section at non-rush rates only by a certain date (at least a week away) and would not take this kind of difficult material on a rush basis. They said they couldn't wait. Early the next day, they called me, accepting my deadline and all my terms. Obviously, they couldn't find anyone else to do it their way, either! So you just have to be firm and engage in a little client education sometimes.
Personally, I wish that phrase "rolling deadline" would be struck from the vocabulary of translation agency PM's. Some of them want it for everything, whether it makes sense or not! Honestly, we're not just expensive typists, churning out one page at a time.
I also get a lot of inappropriate subject matter, especially from potential clients who have found me in a directory. Why they would ever think I could do a sales contract or birth certificate based on my profiles (chemist and physicist!), I'll never know. But sometimes it's just that the PM doesn't know the source language and so really doesn't know what kind of a translator can do it. So I tell them what kind of background is really needed, which can help them find someone.
Then there are those who start out saying "It's very easy, not very technical". I politely remind them that I am not qualified for very easy, not very technical material. Quantum mechanics, yes. Newspaper article on local politics, no. Besides, the general stuff is definitely not "very easy" except for a well-qualified general translator who has already done a lot of the same material. Chemistry is "easy" for me, too. But I don't understand politics in any language. A birth certificate translation would hasten my death... It's always bad news if I need to use two dictionaries just to try to figure out the subject of the translation: one bilingual dictionary, then an English dictionary since I don't understand the entries in the bilingual dictionary. Really bad news if I still have no idea what they're talking about. (General translators who breeze through this stuff are highly underrated, and are worth several times their weight in gold. I know my limitations.)
If I have any qualms about the client's willingness to pay promptly or just don't know them and can't find any recommendations in sources such as the blue board, I just require payment in advance by bank transfer before starting the work. So I don't worry about that angle.
The only time I remember turning down a job because of dodgy subject matter was when one fellow contacted me with a cryptic request that made me suspect that I would be translating laboratory instructions for a homemade "recreational drug" effort. Not exactly anxious to get arrested or adding to my Homeland Security file or being responsible for an explosion, I decided it would be best to be "busy". By the way, you can be legitimately busy even if there is no work on your desk: busy doing laundry, vacuuming, shopping, cleaning out the cats' litter boxes, etc. I can even be busy sleeping.
Peace, Cathy Flick
Ph.D. Chemical Physics/M.A. Physics/B.S. Chemistry
Scientific Translator since 1978
Russian/French/German/Spanish/Italian into US English ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Woops, I should have mentioned these too .... | May 2, 2008 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
I once rejected a radical religious text for ethical reasons.
I also rejected several proofreading requests because the translation was beyond awful. If the job would come from a regular client I would inform the client about this issue. Otherwise I decided to be too busy all of the sudden...
Yes I turned down translations for "tatoo". The client explained after my rejection that the end client is a solid entity (government!!!). Even that it did not persuade me to do othewise. Reason? Ethical like Nicole.
I do no more proofreading. Many of them so horrible, I am tempted to redo the whole thing. Alas, such is a hopeless endeavor, and cost-accounting-wise ... well, foget it. Editing/proofreading is less than half of translation rate.
| | | | | A great reason | May 2, 2008 |
Clarisa Moraña wrote:
to give birth!
Clearly you had a very important project to deliver already! Congratulations!
| | | | | You're so right! | May 2, 2008 |
Cathy Flick wrote:
...
...
...
I decided it would be best to be "busy". By the way, you can be legitimately busy even if there is no work on your desk: busy doing laundry, vacuuming, shopping, cleaning out the cats' litter boxes, etc. I can even be busy sleeping.
Peace, Cathy Flick
... and conversely, clients should thank their lucky stars when a 'general translator' like me says sorry, that's way over my head, so try someone like Cathy, or that IT geek, legal eagle, or whoever else I know that would do the job far better than the hash I would make of it myself .
"But it's not THAT difficult... I thought you were a general translator!"
That's up to me to decide!
I have also refused translations from clients who simply do not like my style.
I'm nearer 60 than 30, and sometimes it shows! Or there are other indefinable reasons. If clients criticise my work too much, I suggest we part as friends while we can! I still have a red availability calendar practically all the time.
Happy translating!
Christine
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Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 10:52
inglés al francés
+ ...
I often refuse work, mainly because I am too busy, sometimes because of the deadline... but as several Prozians wrote before, agencies can often negotiate these. My rates do not change much: one type for agencies, another for direct clients, with variations in the latter to cover the exchange risks and (outrageous) bank charges. It is a “take it or leave it” relation: I can afford to refuse jobs – I work 10-12 hours a day, 5 to 7 days a week, and often have work for a week or 2 ahead![]() ... See more I often refuse work, mainly because I am too busy, sometimes because of the deadline... but as several Prozians wrote before, agencies can often negotiate these. My rates do not change much: one type for agencies, another for direct clients, with variations in the latter to cover the exchange risks and (outrageous) bank charges. It is a “take it or leave it” relation: I can afford to refuse jobs – I work 10-12 hours a day, 5 to 7 days a week, and often have work for a week or 2 ahead ▲ Collapse
| | | | Gabriel Csaba
Argentina
Local time: 05:52
inglés al español
+ ...
| A plan to take over the world | Jun 13, 2008 |
Anthony Baldwin wrote:
6) Your document is a plan to take over the world*, or engage in illegal activities (in which case, I notify the competent authorities).
[Edited at 2008-05-01 22:42]
Besides, nobody respects a World Ruler who can't speak in tongues:
"Bow to me!"
"¿Qué?"
[Edited at 2008-06-13 05:50]
[Edited at 2008-06-13 05:50]
| | | | Gabriel Csaba
Argentina
Local time: 05:52
inglés al español
+ ...
Hilary Davies wrote: Rebecca Garber wrote:
I rejected a job last night after the person waffled on the subject matter. When told that I didn't do legal, she said she'd made a mistake and the subject was financial.
It was also an after hours phone call, with an implied deadline of the following morning.
At any rate, I had a confused-sounding, waffling person on the phone last night too, who called me because they had seen from my CV that I was a financial translator (I do IT and video games). When I pointed this out, she changed her mind and said it was IT... weird!
...this is starting to look like the perfect screenplay idea for the next big Japanese horror flick.
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