| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Would you work with this client? Thread poster: Stephanie Mitchel
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| You no longer have to choose | Apr 9, 2009 |
Hi Stefanie,
you wrote the following:
"His response was indignant, to the effect that he's not going to make any special arrangements with me, he has other translators on hold for those who "default," he's the 10th richest man in the country where he lives, he's a shareholder in his Swiss bank from which he'd be making the payment, etc., and even sent me a photo of himself with a luxury sportscar. Fine for him, but are my terms unreasonable? I have until midnight tonight to m... See more Hi Stefanie,
you wrote the following:
"His response was indignant, to the effect that he's not going to make any special arrangements with me, he has other translators on hold for those who "default," he's the 10th richest man in the country where he lives, he's a shareholder in his Swiss bank from which he'd be making the payment, etc., and even sent me a photo of himself with a luxury sportscar. Fine for him, but are my terms unreasonable? I have until midnight tonight to make a decision - what would you do?"
This made me laugh really hard. I think you will be the cleverest of all if you retire from this project. I have worked much with people whose reactions would be like your client's (however they worked in the field of automobile export/import) and those who were the noisiest and pretended to be most upset about advance partial payments were usually the onces who simply disappeared and never minded owing lots of money to others, even their colleagues and family.
Just read the section you wrote yourself slowly: you politely ask for some kind of security on your behalf and the client goes to great lengths showing off his poor self in a sports car. COME ON! I can fotoshop myself in a chopper, Koenigsegg, yacht... and how professional is that reaction? The 10th richest man 'in the country where he lives'. Hm. So he does not live in his native country... can he send balance statements, officially stamped by the bank?
Just leave it and walk away hoping that the other translators wake up on time.
Best regards,
Irene ▲ Collapse
| | | | conejo 
United States
Local time: 20:21
Japanese to English
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| Definitely forget him | Jun 4, 2009 |
Haha @ C. Chadd's 'spider senses tingling'. I must agree.
Pardon my French (figure of speech) but he sounds like an ass with an overblown ego. If he is so rich, then it should be no problem whatsoever to do as you ask.
I would seek jobs elsewhere.
| | | | John Rawlins
Spain
Local time: 03:21
Spanish to English
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I would bet all of my sports cars, and both yachts, that the man is a fraud!
| | | | | A safe bet, John! | Jun 4, 2009 |
John Rawlins wrote:
I would bet all of my sports cars, and both yachts, that the man is a fraud!
I'd top that bet with my private jets, too. I can't bet the big planes from the airline until I buy my partner's shares of it, which I'll do next week.
When an outsourcer boasts about their wealth, I know that I'll have trouble at paytime. When they explain how and when they'll receive from the end-client, I know that they'll pay me before the date we agreed if they can. And they do!
I worked a few times for one of these overly rich guys. On the first such occasion, his full-time private lawyer contacted me. I began to tell her to ask him about his preference on... and she halted me, "Don't! He is 'unaskable'. Do whatever you think is best, send me the finished job with the bill, payment in cash will be in your bank account a couple of hours later." ... and it really was.
This is how really wealthy people act. They don't brag about their assets, they don't nag about prices, they want immediate first-class service. Fail once, and you'll be out of the game. Do it right, and you'll be in it forever.
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| A fraud, definitely! | Jun 5, 2009 |
I agree with John: clearly a fraud.
If this person was that rich, don't you think a secretary would take care of all the management of this project? It sounds plain hilarious that a very rich person --who must spend 50% of the time networking with good contacts and 50% of the time managing his assets to avoid losing them-- would be emailing translators about translating a book!!!???
(Edited for a typo and to add this: It looks to me that he splits the translation so tha... See more I agree with John: clearly a fraud.
If this person was that rich, don't you think a secretary would take care of all the management of this project? It sounds plain hilarious that a very rich person --who must spend 50% of the time networking with good contacts and 50% of the time managing his assets to avoid losing them-- would be emailing translators about translating a book!!!???
(Edited for a typo and to add this: It looks to me that he splits the translation so that he can escape more easily when fails to pay anyone!!)
[Edited at 2009-06-05 05:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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