| A
female
age
41-50,
anonymous
writes: A friend of mine recommended me for a translating job. I was supposed to translate 30 short texts in 3 months. That was the deal. Even though the money wasn't great, I accepted the offer since the employer was a person of good reputation. In this case it was of primary importance since we were supposed to work without a contract.Now, before you scream SCAM (and rightly so!), let me tell you that where I come from things are done that way. Contracts do not exist and even when they do, law is so weak that nobody EVER ends up before a judge (and when they do they are let off the hook).I was paid every time I finished 3-4 texts. Now, when we were in the middle of our "project" I got an email from my employer. Instead of the usual "how are we doing?", I got informed that her assistant offered to finish the work (I suppose for free) and that I will be paid for everything I had done so far. I was shocked by how the employer neglected the fact that we had a deal for 30 texts in a 3 month time! Of course that I was going to be paid for what I did, but in accepting that offer I turned down other offers!So I am writing an email and I realized that I do not know what to say... I find it rude and unprofessional, especially for someone who is in coaching business. He actually helps people develop their social and communication skills. Thank you in advance for your advice!
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (4 July 2016): Thank you guys!
I sent a brief email to the employer. I was polite and direct.
There isn't a single thing I can do. I'll talk to my friend just to let her know what happened. She needs to know how unprofessional that contact is.
A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (4 July 2016): Well, this is what happens when you have no contracts, no matter if it's the done thing.
A contract basically makes sure employer and employee don't screw each other over like this.
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A
female
reader, Honeypie  + ♥, writes (4 July 2016):
 I would take it with a grain of professionalism and thank him for the work and send the last invoice (or however you dealt with it).
Then you contact ALL the ones your turned down, tell them you finished ahead of schedule (cause you kind of did) and if they are still looking you are now available. Maybe you will get a bite.
IT IS unprofessional and I would NEVER work for him again. But I would KEEP my cool and calm. Even if HE is unprofessional, doesn't mean YOU should be too.
He might regret sooner than later using his assistant to translate. There IS a big difference from someone who can speak/write/read another language to an actual translator, specially if using business terms. And IF he finds out she isn't as good at it and come back to you to finish it... BE SUPER BUSY, sorry no can do.
I have done many translations with no contracts as well, but have been lucky to not run into this kind of stuff.
Also, the friend that recommended you... I'd be wary in the future with jobs coming through him. Yes, he had nothing to do with the mess up, yet him recommending you might have been why the payment was so low.
I have always tried to not mix friends with business.
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (4 July 2016): I'm confused: he recommended you for a job (i.e. he put in a good word for you with the employer?) or he recommended a job to you (i.e. he told you it would be good?).Either way, if he is not your employer he might not know at all about how they have treated you. Even if you tell him now there might not be anything that he could do.Btw,I do think you should,just so others don't get duped either and he doesn't send them that way.About the situation-meh, they'll get an unprofessional translation from an unqualified translator=not great quality=loss of business.So ultimately, their loss too.Plus, if your language combination is in demand,there will never be a dry up (trust me,I know). If you do get any free time,just use it to holiday or travel so that you can get rid of the stress and look for new things so that you can get into a more exciting project.
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A
female
reader, aunt honesty  +, writes (4 July 2016):
 Just be honest with him, tell him how let down you are, tell him how you trusted him on his word and that you have turned down other work for this. Other than telling him how you feel though, you know yourself there really is not a lot than can be done legally, it is just a bitter pill to swallow.
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