Behavior modification...

Generally, the first thing that pops into one's mind when one wants to complain is... to complain!

And there are many instances when this is the proper, and likely the only, thing to do.

However, complaining is tricky when the entity you're complaining to is a client.

So I basically sit on any such complaints for a good while, which generally ends up with my not delivering them. ("A good while" is, of course, a relative term... I thought about the complaint that prompted this post for perhaps as long as 30 seconds before deciding it wasn't worth pursuing.)

For example, a little while ago, I was thinking of mentioning to my French client that they ought to make sure that source files are properly rendered before sending them to me (here I had in mind yesterday's little imbroglio with the strangely fonted source file), but in the end, rather than convey the idea that I wasn't equipped to handle such glitches, or that I was deveoping into a prima donna freelancer, I deleted the sentence and went on with my life.

What's worse, even completely innocent remarks can sometimes be interpreted as complaints. My most famous instance was the time, early in my translation career, when I wrote, "This was a very challenging document to translate" in an email cover note. I later found out that the project manager took this as me saying that I was in over my head, and for that reason, I lost out on a number of subsequent assignments.

As I said, though, there are exceptions. Some time ago, a client sent an assignment in which over half the pages were handwritten reports by several doctors, mostly illegible. As I was not prepared to spend many hours trying to decipher such scribblings, I did raise the issue with the client, and ultimately, never got the job. But as the issue was raised with full consciousness of the possible loss of work, I have no regrets.

Ho-kay! The translation plate is officially cleared, with all files sent to clients, and I have no upcoming interpretation assignments (though I expect a call this afternoon).

(Actually, that's not the case: I have a 10-page contract to translate for Sunday! But a fella can dream, can't he?)

Cheers...

I should not complain...

Speaking of gripes, I just spent two hours nailing down some recent invoices.

Part of the time was spent backtracking, as I sat and scratched my head wondering what had happened to an invoice I thought I had written, but which I had not.

That should teach me to not make exceptions to my informally stated rule of: Don't turn the computer off without invoicing completed work, or making some unmistakable gesture (like writing words in blood on the bathroom mirror) to make sure you don't forget to do so!

A rule I did not forget today was my other invoicing rule of thumb: Don't consider the invoicing as complete until you've transmitted an invoice to the client!

Part of the tedium, of course, has to do with folks that still want you to return a signed something-or-other as part of their process. Fortunately, my Strobe XP100 is helping out tremendously with that. (It's actually easier to print out the form, sign it, and scan it with the Strobe than it is to embed a signature graphic in it.)

* * *There was nothing to eat in the house earlier in the day, so Galina took me out to lunch. Her first preference was a Luby's, but the one we stopped at had an arctic temperature setting inside and a very long line for service. My next preference was a Vietnamese phơ restaurant, where I had a soup, Galina had charbroiled chicken over steamed rice, and we both had a spring roll apiece and that curiously strong coffee that's served with a mini-drip coffee brewer and a dollop of condensed milk in the cup underneath.

We still have nothing to eat in the house.

* * *The work plate has been refilled. I am going to try to squeeze at least a half-day off sometime this weekend, though.

Cheers...