Friday, June 22, 2012

10 Negotiating insulting offers

translator negotiates with translation agency
Click image to enlarge

10 comments:

  1. May I use Calvo's hilarious answer? I receive at least one insulting offer each week.

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  2. Mimi, you could just send a link to this page in reply ;)

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  3. Got one today: "1 yen per character preferred" : O All hail Calvo!!

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  4. I know Calvo charges exorbitant rates, but if he's charging per word, in most currencies the issue is one of too many zeroes after the decimal, not at the end...

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    Replies
    1. Not if expressed in terms of eurocents. 5 cents per word would become 50 cents per word, which is maybe(?) enough for Calvo

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  5. Insulting comment I received recently (for a proofreading job): "Oh, so you charge $0.03USD just for knowing how to read in Spanish? That's waaaay too much!" I wonder how Calvo would respond to that :P

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  6. What I normally do, is meet all insulting offers with a stony silence...and of course, hitting the "delete" key with as much gusto as I am able to muster!

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  7. I'm a salaried translator but I get insulting offers all the time from a range of outfits all over the world. Since I can't work for third parties anyway, I can go all Calvo on their ahem, assets.

    I have a lot of fun doing that, but I keep it plausible... i.e., fair rates, payment due ON delivery with HALF IN ADVANCE, NO fuzzy anything (can you imagine asking a lawyer for a discount based on "fuzzy matches" ... geeze). I know I can do this only because I have a "day job" so I'm not advocating this to anyone else... but dang it, it feels good, and it's what some people richly deserve! :))

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  8. That's the Calvo we know and love! Let's add two zeroes at the end -- what the heck! :)

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