One-sided Business Ethics and Expectations
Freelancing is a bliss. Yes, you don’t have a monthly/timely paycheck (this is the worst and probably the only downside at all). And still you have to deal with a boss. In this case, the boss is pretty bearable and mostly fun to work with. His wife, however, is insufferable. I had to do two projects for her and we had some problems on both. The problematic thing was that I was supposed to work very hard and very fast with a computer program that I had just learned and had had no time to practice. Since they had a tech guy in the office, I had to camp out there 9 to 5 for about a week so that I could get help from him if needed. There are so many problems in this scenario.
1) I signed a contract to freelance and yet there I was, working in an office- working the usual hours, open to supervision- something I am really allergic to.
2) I am social and extroverted so if I am to work in an office, it should have the odd social perks, such as the watercooler chats. There was nothing social about 15-20 people working at their desks, not bothering to talk to the newcomer (myself) -totally isolated from the rest; apart from the 1-2 group mates that happen to be working on the same project.
3) So I have the pressure, a program that drove me crazy, co-workers that no way deserved the “co” and a demanding supervisor.
Results?
* I didn’t progress too well, was a little late on the deadline (on the supposed deadline-I’ll talk about that in a minute) and she wasn’t very pleased. By the time the project had ended, I was swearing off the program.
* Then the boss’ s wife called again, asking for another project. I said yeah- thinking I had taken all the precautions to deliver a flawless project. But no. the program had problems again. Problems tech guy couldn’t solve on the phone. A whole project I had had to do manually and delivered delayed again. So I had a fall out with the wife. Of course she didn’t take any responsibility and tried to put all the blame on me. Was she right? No. Let me prove you why.
They make you sign an agreement before you start to work. It tells you to deliver on time, to produce correct and respect confidentiality. All is good and right so far, right? However the agreement doesn’t really cover the freelancer. While the it mentions possible paycuts if the freelancer happens to make mistakes, it doesn’t claim any responsibility if the paycheck is late. My 2 paychecks are late, and it is the case with all the freelancers. So shouldn’t they pay a fee for being late?
Shouldn’t they be more tolerable towards you when there are problems with the system that even the tech guy can’t work out and/or tries to take the easy way out by putting the blame on your computer (which he had to admit wasn’t the case) and/or the experienced office workers have similar problems with you and they need help? How about that?
Why don’t the people hiring you have to respect your rights but you have to be perfect? Since when is unfair trade OK? If my service needs to be perfect, so should the working conditions. Am I dreaming? Maybe. But I believe this is what happens when the boss (wo)men “make the mistake of hiring ” people who are able to question. For instance, blame Marx if you will. Blame you and your “super-efficient” support teams and your socially inadequate employeess who give in to your every whim. But you can not make me accept your faults. I might need the money but I don’t need the slavery.
Oh and why is this post here? We all need the money to finance our dreams. We have to put off with all kinds of people. It just doesn’t mean we should give in without a fight.
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Tolerance + boss = blind alley