Well, yesterday, November 12, was something of a bust if I was supposed to do something to prep. But I did learn what should be a valuable lesson. I worked so hard I didn’t have time to cook or anything else because I did not examine a job carefully enough before accepting it, missed a document with content that I am not qualified to process, and so spent the entire day on only this part of the job trying to research and do a good job because it was too late to send it to someone else, and finally turned in the entire job a day and half late – which is absolutely NOT a good thing in my profession. Then, this morning, a pressured, hurried project manager in Italy tried to get me to take a rate far below my <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>agreed on</span> rate (which allows me to actually pay my bills) by simply saying in the email, “Thank you for taking this job. The rate for this job is the usual one for [name of company].” So I had to ask “And what is the rate for [name of company]? I already have an agreed on rate with your agency.” They did finally agree to my usual rate, but not without some back and forth and the project manager complaining.
The reason I mention both incidents is that these problems are becoming more frequent in my industry, and they are expected to become worse as the economy worsens. I suspect this is happening other places, too. So it’s time to increase caution as well as negotiating skills. I have put up a large note with big writing “CHECK ALL DOCUMENTS BEFORE ACCEPTING A JOB!!” and “CONFIRM RATES BEFORE STARTING!” I used to be able to depend on an agency to automatically pay my agreed rate, or even just send me work I was qualified to do. But now they are so pressured to reduce costs and hurry, hurry, hurry, that questionable things are happening all the time. It’s a recipe for disaster (and my family’s financial ruin).
So for November 12, a lesson learned.
For November 13, today, I will have to be content with packing a backpack for tomorrow so I can work and plan while I sit in coffee shops and waiting rooms while my daughter has tests in preparation for cancer surgery. I am working on lists for food and consumables storage, medicine storage, and getting the house in order (really clean) for someone who might be on chemotherapy next month.