Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
It begins by the client writing and asking how soon I can do a translation. If I have plenty of others to do, that are waiting in the queue, I dislike this kind of pressure - and especially as I never know what they mean. I feel that what they want to hear is, "I will start on it right now, Sir/Madam, it is just about 10 a.m. Would 12 noon be fine, Sir/Madam, or would that be too late?" In other words, I think they are trying to jump the queue.
Then I have to scratch my head and think what to say that will not thoroughly offend them, knowing that I am going to be working flat out for the next three days, and I do not want another deadline to follow on immediately after that.
I find, therefore, that usually the best way to deal with the situation is to write back and say, "I have quite a backlog at the moment - but when is the very latest that you need it by?" Usually they then withdraw from their hope of having it within the next hour and suggest a semi-reasonable deadline.
Astrid
If the deadline is not reasonable I try to negotiate. However, most of the time the agency is firm on their deadline. The longest extension that I have received on a deadline was half an hour. For me, agencies are only willing to increase the rate of my pay by .01 or .02cents more per word. To me, this is no big deal. Furthermore, I'm not greedy or desperate for money that I will put myself through the hassle and stress of an unreasonable deadline and risk not getting paid at all. I can't help but to see low ratings on agencies because the translator took on an urgent project and did not get paid at all.
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