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| User | Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff Poll: Do you accept jobs when you are fully booked? |
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Marlene Blanshay 
Canada
Local time: 18:33
  Member (2009)
French to English
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even if i'm very busy, I can take on small jobs, usually editing, for regular clients. But only small jobs! i had to turn down a couple of pretty good jobs for fave clients this week while working on a very big project with a tight deadline.
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Stanislaw Czech
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:33
Member (2006)
English to Polish
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If I were really fully booked and the deadline would be short obviously I wouldn't take it but if it was a question of working let's say 50h instead of 40 in any given week I would take this extra job and take additional day of in the following week(s).
I guess that as freelancers we need to be flexible.
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Pia Maljanen
Finland
Local time: 01:33
Member (2008)
Finnish to English
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| | Obviously No when I am fully booked | Feb 2 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
I would almost go so far as to define fully booked as meaning unable to accept any further work for that period. So the answer is self-evidently "no" AFAIAC. |
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As I also interpret fully booked as meaning that I am truly fully booked and do not have any spare time left over even for smaller jobs my answer is no.
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Catherine Knight
Germany
Local time: 00:33
Member (2008)
German to English
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| | Depends how you interpret "fully booked"... | Feb 2 |
I agree with Charlie and neilmac, "fully booked" for me defines the point when I start to turn down work because I simply cannot do any more, so I answered "No".
However, I do quite often accept jobs when I'm already quite busy!
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Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 01:33
Turkish to English
| | Another interpretation | Feb 2 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
I would almost go so far as to define fully booked as meaning unable to accept any further work for that period. So the answer is self-evidently "no" AFAIAC.
However, it seems some people just take it to mean "very busy". If you're in a position to slot in a small job, or however else you care to phrase it, you are clearly not "fully booked".
That said, the question could be clearer in one sense, since I do "accept jobs" at a time when I am currently "fully booked" if the deadline is for some point in the future when I am not "fully booked". Ah, the joys of ambiguous phrasing. |
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There is another possibility. Some people may accept the extra work and then subcontract it. Not something I would do - I am a self-employed freelancer not an agency.
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Lesley Clarke
Mexico
Local time: 17:33
 Partial member (2005)
Spanish to English
| | Does nobody here have direct clients? | Feb 2 |
If an agency offers me work and I am fully booked, I obviously turn them down, but I have a few direct clients for whom I am their sole translator, so I have to accept their work, even if it means not sleeping if I can't find a suitable colleague to do the job.
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Tina Vonhof
Canada
Local time: 16:33
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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If I cannot accept the job at that time, I let the client know when I will be available and when I could deliver. I have a lot of private clients and, since there is no other certified translator in my language combination anywhere nearby, they pretty much have to accept that. If it's really urgent, I'll still try to fit it in.
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Reed D James
Chile
Local time: 18:33
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
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I love it when people say what I'm thinking so I don't have to.
lexical wrote:
And I don't write "fully booked" with a hyphen either. Does anyone who has even a minimal acquaintance with the English language? |
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Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:33
Member (2006)
German to English
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Lesley Clarke wrote:
If an agency offers me work and I am fully booked, I obviously turn them down, but I have a few direct clients for whom I am their sole translator, so I have to accept their work, even if it means not sleeping if I can't find a suitable colleague to do the job. |
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I quite agree, Lesley. I hate turning down my direct clients so I will try and fit their jobs in even if it means working at the weekend or late at night. And for me, fuly booked means fully booked during my normal working hours - I choose not to work at the weekends as a rule but I will make an exception in certain cases.
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