[rechu]

That sucks, Turtle Rider. I was pretty lucky that when I lost my job they paid everything as promised - severance 10 days after the termination notice and the remaining salary at the end of the month.

Is there any sort of labor regulation agency where you live? Here any issues about not being paid are dealt with through the labor inspection office. A complaint to them usually gets action.

[WastingAsparagus]

I am frustrated with freelance work. I haven't been getting paid basically anything for my freelance translations. Anybody have any experience with this or know who I could turn to to figure out how to make more with them? I just know that a lot of companies try to take advantage of freelancers, so I am trying to charge as much as I feel I am worth.

@WastingAsparagus you should talk to @rechu she does the same type of freelance work. I am frustrated that since I finished my profile on UpWork and applied for 16 freelance jobs now, NO ONE has responded. What I hate about UpWork is that you are only allowed 25 attempts to bid for jobs before UpWork shuts your profile down so that you can't contact more clients to bid for their job via emailing them a proposal. It's a system set up to fail the freelancer. On the other hand, FlexJobs requires you to pay for access to contact clients for jobs. The difference is that you are not limited to how many clients you can contact, and you don't "bid" or submit "proof" of your work to get the job. You have to post a resume for the clients to see and FlexJobs claims that they verify the employer and the employers pay for the freelancer, which is why there is a fee for freelancers. I get that, but I have a different set of skills so I can't "prove" myself with just one resume version. I'm so frustrated!!

Oh, and a temp agency I am in good standing with, decided to send me on a one-day assignment tomorrow since my last role was back in July of 2019. I have to "prove" to them I am a good worker, who is polite and respectful to their client, so that they will submit me for more contract work. Groveling. That is what contract work is as a temp. And right now, ironically, I'm writing a book review of a book I'm reading for one of my two grad school business courses, about women in leadership. The book review has to be 30 pages so I'm terrified yet excited because I love to write. Maybe I should review books for a living. But, I think only published authors can become book reviewers. My friend does it on his blog -- reviews published books -- and he's not a published author. So, I have to brainstorm this further. Hmmm.

[rechu]

@WastingAsparagus without knowing what your experience is or how much you are charging, I can't really say if you can increase your rate or not. There are a few sites out there where translators can post their information/resume. I forget the names at this time, but I am sure a quick google search will turn some up. I just remembered that Translation Directory may be one. I know that some people post their rates per word on sites like that, so it could give you an idea of what others are charging. Also, if you have some specialty – experience with legal documents, technical documents, etc. you can generally charge more for these types of projects.

In my case, nearly all my translation-type work has come from personal contacts rather than freelancing websites. These are people who know I am a serious professional, so they accepted the rates I quoted.

[seesaw]

Originally Posted by WastingAsparagus

I am frustrated with freelance work. I haven't been getting paid basically anything for my freelance translations. Anybody have any experience with this or know who I could turn to to figure out how to make more with them? I just know that a lot of companies try to take advantage of freelancers, so I am trying to charge as much as I feel I am worth.

@WastingAsparagus if you are having trouble getting paid, you could try using Upwork's feature where you bring your own client. Then you can use the payment protection processes like escrow or hourly payment to ensure they actually pay instead of ignoring you.

And FYI, Upwork no longer suspends profiles for sending out too many proposals. Since it now costs money to send a proposal (2-6 connects, which cost 15 cents per connect), you can buy as many connects as you want and send as many proposals as you want, regardless of response, and you will not get suspended. I am a heavy Upwork user, I am active on their community help board as a "Community Guru" and I can safely vouch this information is true. They instituted the change in July 2019 when they began charging for connects.

[Mountaindewed]

I walked into the break room this morning and a coworker came up to me and patted me under the chin and said “smile!” What the actual ****???

[ARaven0137]

Unqualified, uncaring, socially inept bosses. A few lazy, incompetent or manipulative coworkers. Oh, since this is a rant thread...hahaha, I had a coworker, Mr. X, who was the laziest, most incompetent and the least intelligent person I have ever flown with. I joked that, over three years, he improved so much, that it got down to once a flight did I think he was going to kill me. 100% of the time he would get his position from a fix incorrect. If we were east, he'd say west. Then, he had a 100% success rate in screwing up every tasking that he had. He would sit there, texting his son while I did all of the preflight requirements...and he was junior. Whenever he got into a jam, he'd freeze up and I'd correct it. I told our boss that his performance appraisal should just say "Alice will fix it."

Anyhow, that's one rant. :P

[Turtle_Rider]

@rechu, yes, there is.

Thankfully, they have done my insurance and tax request. Although it was tiring because I had to call them too many times. I'm giving them time until next week. If they still didn't pay me, I'd file the complaint.

[Mountaindewed]

I think I should be more worried about losing my job instead of getting coronavirus. If there’s a recession, and my hours are already getting cut. Yeah, I’m screwed. Then with all these cuts to Medicare and social security what is literally the ****ing point?

[ARaven0137]

My current gripe is the serious increase and severity of abusive male bosses where I'm at, who target minorities and women. I've seen a significant number of women leave as a result. Also, the upper management that condones the good ole boy system and protects the abusers. A good friend of mine left as a direct result. When we reported her being abused by her boss, upper management circled the wagons and protected the abuser. They also have a "policy" where the victim must remain with the abuser so there is no escape. I said that this would put a chill on women who would report abuse and embolden the abusers since their victim cannot leave or has to transfer or resign. And, guess what? It did.

[Mountaindewed]

Thanks for calling my house 5 minutes after I had already left to tell me not to come in. Then send me home at the door once I got there. Also why do you call on my cell phone sometimes and then sometimes my house phone other times? Also they sent someone else home at the door too. So I wasn’t the only one who didn’t get the message. Bad communication again.

[Mountaindewed]

So that coworker who got screamed at by that other coworker apparently quit. She just stopped showing up after the incident. The coworker who instigated the incident, and another coworker and my supervisor were really happy about it today. They were talking about celebrating with a lasagna party (yes there really was lasagna) and were joking around about it. I must have had a look on my face because my supervisor said “Mountaindewed isn’t having any of this” Yeah, because you guys are being assholes. I felt like they almost bullied her into quitting.

[Mountaindewed]

I was in the bathroom at work and I was washing my hands and this customer comes out and just walks out. Without washing her hands. Who does that in the first place but especially right now? Luckily I had hand sanitizer on me.

[BreakForTheLight]

I had an angry customer on the phone today, I didn't handle it very well and it has caused a major surge of self-doubt. I think the things I said probably only made him even more angry. He was sent on to me by someone from another department who gave me too brief of an overview of the situation but I was also only half listening and then suddenly I had this angry customer on the line and I could hardly follow what he was saying. The system didn't have very clear notes about the situation either which I feel like I shouldn't have revealed to him but I had no idea what to say. I vaguely remember the colleague mentioned what I should've tried to make clear to him but I was completely overwhelmed. I said all the wrong things.

Yes I'm new and still learning and yes it's a difficult situation for anyone but I feel so ashamed over how badly I handled it and like a complete failure.

[ARaven0137]

The tale of the Octopus. Once upon a time, there was a woman who was brand new to an organization, who knew more and was more talented and far superior to anyone in that organization. She had her tentacles in every project and in everyone's business and was thus given the name, Octopus. Octopus told 20 year veterans that they didn't know what they were talking about and that they were wrong. So, people in her particular section flushed the Octopus down the drain and she floated up in my section. I, poor Alice in Wonderland, had no idea that the Octopus had so many slimy tentacles so I took her under my wing and mentored her, completely unaware of what was in store for me. For six months, the Octopus was glued to my behind, saying the sun shined because of me.

I was contemplating a transfer so I offered to recommend that the Octopus succeed me. Well, I didn't get the transfer so the Octopus decided to accelerate the transfer of power. Octopus began going behind my back to torpedo me to my superiors, blaming me for things that were so minor and not my fault, like a lizard setting off an alarm or giving away a section vehicle when I was ordered to do so. I began to learn that she had done this dozens of times to many other people and I was horrified that the Octopus was coming for me with all those suckers and tentacles. The Octopus had this amazing skill that I could not comprehend nor wished to replicate. She could go into a top boss' office and say, "these are not the droids you are looking for" and he would repeat it. Or, "the wizard is not welcome here, my king. Begone, Gandalf Stormcrow." It was some kind of Sith magic/Wormtongue stuff where she could whisper a name into management's ear and that person would befall an evil fate. So, my name came up and I was out of that section, lickety split and Octopus set herself up and destroyed the section that I had built in less than a year.

[ARaven0137]

Now for the tale of the Alabama Tick. Once upon a time, there was a woman, who was very senior and was so dug into the system that no one could remove her...much like an Alabama Tick. The Tick had dug herself into a key position to where nearly everyone in the section had to go through her to get anything done. The Tick reveled in the power and created an atmosphere so toxic we thought we were on Mercury. Everyone would have to kiss the ring to accomplish the simplest thing. The Tick would carefully and painfully structure every encounter so that she was the one in power and you were just gum on her shoe. You would have to sit through chastising lectures, her treating you like a wayward three year old, for the smallest error, like three spaces after a period or using a colon instead of a semi colon. These matters would become life or death. If you failed to bend the knee she would do her utmost to undermine your work and make you look like an idiot to upper management. She would walk by you and wave her hand dismissively, saying, "we have a problem person that I have to deal with," and then walk into upper management's office and shut the door.

I fell afoul of the Tick when I had an urgent project that had real world consequences and she demanded that I be her gopher girl. I stood my ground and it was open season on me. I also have a strong suspicion that she was stalking me too. She always knew when I was in the locker room, taking a shower. And she never worked out. In an open shower bay with just me, she would show up in the spot right next to me. I think I showed that I was creeped out and things went sour. She held up my work for no reason and humiliated me every chance she got. She threw me under the bus at one inspection and I had to prove that I was right and she was wrong. That was enough.

I took it for two years until I said, "you want to play this game, let's play this game." Two dozen other offended parties banded together to turn the tables. I was in charge of a program that she had to complete in order to maintain her qualifications. I had always been kind and understanding before, but it was open season now. I found every error that she had made and paraded it publicly. The others did the same and the pressure was on. Finally, she imploded when she screamed at the head of the section, when she was in the wrong. She was removed and put in a worthless position. I took the opportunity to commend her successor in front of her every chance I got and say how messed up things were before. I did it again, publicly at a mass meeting and the Tick dropped her bagel on the carpet and ran out, putting in her retirement papers in the next 15 minutes.

I hate being that way, but Tick was so toxic and damaging to the organization and no one was doing a thing.

So my workplace is under significant attack from advocacy groups for "me too" problems. So they have been sending around survey's for "workplace conduct".

Many of my co workers have come to me with their complaints and it REALLY pisses me off that their complaints are not even close to the mark.

I was a victim of demeaning and derogatory behavior on a daily basis. It was not sexual but it was conduct unbecoming that has been complained about before regulatory groups. So this survey is right up my ally. The people around me have NOTHING to complain about because they don't really have it bad. But my voice is going to be drowned out by their stupidity.

First, one co worker complains about the fact that other people don't have enough to do so they can go down to the gym for two hours a day. But she forgets that her work day is very busy because she takes so much time off. She takes at least 1 day per week off so all the rest of her days are more busy. Plus I resent her complaining about this. It will only result in us being watched more carefully. As she has made clear, she doesn't care. She doesn't care because SHE is too busy to do anything else during the day because she chooses to take a lot of time off. She also forgets how much time she takes noticing and complaining about others.

Another co worker complained about management. Again, I don't know what they are talking about. I don't agree with management on every occasion but I understand they have a job to do. For the most part this is the best management team I have ever been involved with. They mostly leave me alone. They have instituted common sense practices that other managers wouldn't due to pure laziness. I wouldn't blame them for being upset with these insane complaints.

Many of the co workers complained about our punch in system. It is demeaning and it also, jips us of time. However, first, I don't think they will ever get rid of that. If you are not looking to rip them off of time you should have no problem with it. Secondly they foolishly point out that some people punch in and then are never seen from again all day. Well, what will this do? It will just have management watch everyone carefully all day long in addition to them having to punch in and punch out.

I cannot believe the stupidity of these complaints. A "friend" came to me yesterday because she was going to go into the downtown for an errand and told the boss of the place that was where she was going to be. He told her to punch out if she was going. She got angry at that. What was she thinking. SHE TOLD THE BOSS she was leaving for longer than her break. What did she expect him to say? She should have just left and if she got caught say she didn't expect it to take that long and put in the slip. If she didn't get caught -- she was aces. That is the reasonable common sense game my boss plays. If he doesn't know about it... he won't look.

These people are so stupid they are actively making things worse for everyone. It is pathetic.

[Open Eyes]

Emily, sounds like you work in a "whinery" of entitles.

Originally Posted by Open Eyes

Emily, sounds like you work in a "whinery" of entitles.

Apparently yes. It is so distressing because they are going to think we are all like that.

[Mountaindewed]

Management was in a yelling type bad mood today. My supervisor called me out for a doing a good job, so whatever I guess.