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Poll: What do you say to a client when refusing a job because you find it too boring?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 16:11
English to German
Other Aug 14, 2017

I generally say "this is not my specialization". Because boredom isn't my specialization, is it

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 12:11
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Never Aug 14, 2017

How professional is it to refuse a job because it's boring?? Unless you have ots of jobs and you have to choose among them, that's not a professional behavior, IMO. Professionals like mechanics, doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. cannot or will not refuse a job based on personal preferences. Why should we?

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:11
French to English
I am not unprofessional Aug 14, 2017

Mario Freitas wrote:

How professional is it to refuse a job because it's boring?? Unless you have ots of jobs and you have to choose among them, that's not a professional behavior, IMO. Professionals like mechanics, doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. cannot or will not refuse a job based on personal preferences. Why should we?


One of the perks of working freelance is being able to choose what to do and when. If I choose not to do a job, for any reason, that's my prerogative and does not affect anybody but myself.


 
Nicholas Ferreira
Nicholas Ferreira  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:11
Spanish to English
+ ...
Higher rate makes even the most boring more interesting Aug 14, 2017

If there is ever a time when I'm really not interested in doing a particular translation, I will typically raise my rates significantly. If the client ends up accepting, then at least that less interesting job becomes much more palatable

 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 16:11
English to German
Comparison Aug 14, 2017

Mario Freitas wrote:

Professionals like mechanics, doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. cannot or will not refuse a job based on personal preferences.


I know several people who have been refused treatment by doctors because their illness was not promising enough (either of cash or of sweet success). I've been denied service when I had an unpopular brand of furnace in need of repair, or a bike that was not considered good enough to deserve a makeover. And AFAIK a good lawyer will refuse a case they can't get behind.

Comparing myself with other service providers, I feel that I refuse far fewer cases and I'm far more tolerant of unrewarding jobs than virtually everyone else in my general vicinity.


 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:11
German to English
+ ...
Work is not entertainment Aug 15, 2017

As most others have already written, this is not a reason for turning down work. I don't expect my work to entertain me.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:11
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Say that I'm already committed... Aug 15, 2017

... which is usually true.

I admit it, I have turned down jobs because I found them too boring. It happened last week. My favorite client, who pays me more than anyone else, asked if I could do a very long contract. If I had had nothing on my plate, I might have accepted it. As it happened, I was working on a long job with a loose deadline. I could have worked it in if the subject interested me a lot, but it wasn't worth the sacrifice.


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 12:11
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Once again Aug 17, 2017

This post shows once again the differences in professionalism. If you think it's professionally feasible to refuse a job because "it's boring", go ahead. It's a right of yours. But, man, is it unprofessional!

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:11
French to English
Not at all Aug 18, 2017

Mario Freitas wrote:

This post shows once again the differences in professionalism. If you think it's professionally feasible to refuse a job because "it's boring", go ahead. It's a right of yours. But, man, is it unprofessional!


I don't accept that a translator is professionally obligated to accept any job that is offered. The professional obligation is to execute the tasks that we do choose properly and ethically.

Suppose you are offered a project that is of no interest to you at all - very repetitive, mundane subject matter, etc. Why is it unprofessional to turn it down and wait for something more interesting to turn up? It is only unprofessional if it harms somebody else in some way.

Why is it unprofessional to express a preference for interesting projects?


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 16:11
French to English
Agree with Elizabeth! Aug 20, 2017

Elizabeth Tamblin wrote:

Mario Freitas wrote:

This post shows once again the differences in professionalism. If you think it's professionally feasible to refuse a job because "it's boring", go ahead. It's a right of yours. But, man, is it unprofessional!


I don't accept that a translator is professionally obligated to accept any job that is offered. The professional obligation is to execute the tasks that we do choose properly and ethically.

Suppose you are offered a project that is of no interest to you at all - very repetitive, mundane subject matter, etc. Why is it unprofessional to turn it down and wait for something more interesting to turn up? It is only unprofessional if it harms somebody else in some way.

Why is it unprofessional to express a preference for interesting projects?




If I find something boring, I won't do it well, so it's in my client's interest to find someone else.

I only accept work that I find interesting, because then I work really hard to produce the best possible translation. Contracts, financial reports, very technical nuts and bolts instructions all bore me stiff, and I won't bother to look very hard for the right terms. Give me marketing blurb about the same nuts and bolts though, and I might take up the challenge.

Being professional doesn't mean being a doormat and accepting anything and everything. Maybe you need to feed your family and find yourself accepting stuff just to pay your bills. I'm lucky to share expenses with my partner and can afford to be picky

A short while ago I refused a file simply because it was a fiddly PowerPoint file with a million different little text zones. They suppled a CAT tool file, and it was hard to see where the various bits went and would have required very close checking once the target PPT file was produced. I didn't have any work at all that week, and indeed that was my least productive month so far this year, but I declined saying it was not within my scope and was given something far more interesting by the same agency the very next day.


 
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Poll: What do you say to a client when refusing a job because you find it too boring?






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