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Poll: How often do you accept jobs on weekends?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 4, 2012

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How often do you accept jobs on weekends?".

This poll was originally submitted by Firas Allouzi. View the poll results »



 
Interlangue (X)
Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 15:05
English to French
+ ...
(Very) frequently May 4, 2012

Other people's weekends are not mine and during theirs, I just continue working.
"My weekends" are something else: last weekend was April 19-23 and next "weekend" will be 30 May - 12 June.
As a freelancer, I arrange my time as I please


 
Mary Worby
Mary Worby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:05
German to English
+ ...
Rarely May 4, 2012

Only when they are very well paid!

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Very rarely May 4, 2012

And only if the customer pays double - and begs

[Edited at 2012-05-04 08:44 GMT]


 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:05
Member
English to French
Never May 4, 2012

But for two years, I did work every other weekend for motorsport press releases, paid 50% more. But after a while I felt that even 50% supplemental income wasn't enough compared to the nuisance.

I relate very much to Chris' approach.

And when I am behind schedule, the weekend acts as a padding period where I can absorb backlog. I don't specifically accept or plan any work at weekends. I have other things to do.

Philippe


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:05
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Occasionally/frequently May 4, 2012

If and when work comes along...

 
Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:05
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
I voted: Other May 4, 2012

Because there is a huge difference between scheduling my own week at my convenience or being booked over the weekend by clients.
Booked weekends cost at least 50% more, all clients agree. It's the law, BTW. Here in the US.


 
nordiste
nordiste  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:05
English to French
+ ...
same here May 4, 2012

Nicole Schnell wrote:

Because there is a huge difference between scheduling my own week at my convenience or being booked over the weekend by clients.
Booked weekends cost at least 50% more, all clients agree. It's the law, BTW. Here in the US.


When I started freelancing after 20 years working as an employee I kept normal office business hours. Now I schedule my work and free time at my convenience, which means sometimes working during the week-end and having a day off in the middle of the week.

But I very rarely accept a job over the week-end, and always with an extra cost.


 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:05
French to English
In the beginning... May 4, 2012

In my early days I accepted anything, with (almost) any conditions, keen to work all the time to gain experience.

I soon learnt, much to my detriment, that clients were happy to send their text off on Friday night and have it churned out into English, as if by magic, on their desktop Monday morning. Family life took a knock! In fact, it later became part of the nature of the work I did. When I started out, it simply meant I got the badly organised clients and they were generally th
... See more
In my early days I accepted anything, with (almost) any conditions, keen to work all the time to gain experience.

I soon learnt, much to my detriment, that clients were happy to send their text off on Friday night and have it churned out into English, as if by magic, on their desktop Monday morning. Family life took a knock! In fact, it later became part of the nature of the work I did. When I started out, it simply meant I got the badly organised clients and they were generally the ones who paid late and/or badly too. Before internet became commonplace, it meant working all through Friday night to be sure to send the piece off on a floppy disk by midday Saturday (not 100% sure and very expensive) so the client could receive the piece on Monday. Internet changed that.

Three years into the business, the major part of my clientèle came from a sporting environment and translations for the press were needed at (almost) any time of night or day. Sporting events happen at the weekend and the longer round the world and ocean-racing sailing event participants do not hang up their oilskins for the weekend. I had to be reactive. I hate the folk who send in stuff at the last last last minute expecting that you can still do 1000 words of a press release in time for the news agency deadline. I sometimes did do 1000 in an hour. I gradually never the less got rid of clients like that, book me now, serve you later. With the odd exception and fully aware of the nature of urgency that sometimes arise for having married into the "milieu", I began to refuse what I had previosuly accepted. Clients I had shunned came crawling back and the more intelligent ones did what they could to respect human time limits.

So yes, on weekends, but emergency and if I can't, I can't. For can't, read also don't want to. There are some clients for whom an emergency is a real emergency. But when you also discover that having made sacrifices over the weekend and the client comes back midweek to say he's just read the work and has a couple of questions... you feel seriously short-changed.

When the nature of the field you work in requires it, you accept. It is part of the deal. No problem with that. But I do not do so for badly-organised folk, generally also bad payers. Grrr!!!

I have not accounted for the idea that I sometimes work over a weekend because I chose to, in order to get ahead or as I took time off midweek knowing I would catch up over the weekend. When it's my choice, I don't mind it being my problem!

[Edited at 2012-05-04 09:29 GMT]

[Edited at 2012-05-04 13:14 GMT]
Collapse


 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:05
Member (2006)
German to English
Other May 4, 2012

Nicole Schnell wrote:

Because there is a huge difference between scheduling my own week at my convenience or being booked over the weekend by clients.


The same here. I usually have deadlines for Monday, and depending on how much work I have to do, I generally always work on Sundays - peace and quite.


 
Dave Bindon
Dave Bindon  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 16:05
Greek to English
In memoriam
Frequently May 4, 2012

Since I don't have a family I have no need to keep to a Monday-Friday schedule.

To keep myself sane and healthy I usually try set my deadlines (or decide whether to accept aclient's deadline) based on working 5 days per week. The two free days, however, could be any day of the week (maybe a sunny day in winter, or a particularly hot day in summer when I'd otherwise be melting onto my keyboard).


 
John Cutler
John Cutler  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other May 4, 2012

Only when it's 100% my decision and I feel like it. I really don't have any problem with working on weekends, but it has to be because I have nothing better to do (the weather's bad, no family activities, or studies, etc.)

When it's a typical case of the late Friday afternoon email saying, "We need this urgently for first thing Monday morning", my thought is that someone else's urgencies aren't necessarily my urgencies.


 
Marlene Blanshay
Marlene Blanshay  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 10:05
Member (2009)
French to English
+ ...
sometimes May 4, 2012

Not as often as I used to, however. It just also seems that I rarely get job requests on fridays. Sometimes if it's a small job I will take it, but I would rather not take up a whole weekend. The last time I did a specific weekend job was in December. It was a large rush editing job and the client offered me time and a half on my hourly rate. The weather was cold and horrible so I didn't mind.

 
Allison Wright (X)
Allison Wright (X)  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:05
Frequently May 4, 2012

I have no qualms about being away from my desk in the middle of the week though.

 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:05
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Occationally May 4, 2012

Allison Wright wrote:

I have no qualms about being away from my desk in the middle of the week though.


I agree with Allison.
It all depends on the nature of the job and the client.


 
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Poll: How often do you accept jobs on weekends?






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