| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Off topic: Stupid/offensive/laughable things you hear from project managers Thread poster: Miguel Carmona
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I wanted to thank you personally for your excellent work.
What? Personally? I did the work personally, with my own brains, knowledge and hands. It was not the computer or the software that did the work by themselves for me!
Clearly she wanted to take the opportunity, while saying "thank you", to subtly drop the "P" bomb to state her higher position (in her head) in relation to mine.
To be fair, a few days before, she had ... See more I wanted to thank you personally for your excellent work.
What? Personally? I did the work personally, with my own brains, knowledge and hands. It was not the computer or the software that did the work by themselves for me!
Clearly she wanted to take the opportunity, while saying "thank you", to subtly drop the "P" bomb to state her higher position (in her head) in relation to mine.
To be fair, a few days before, she had been promoted to "Senior Project Manager", or some job position name like that, with a good 2½ project managers (possibly interns) or so under her. She had been on the job for almost a whole two years already, mind you.
A very short time after that, the agency was gulped down by a bigger shark, she lost her job and went onto something else.
Ten years later, I am still a translator, my own boss (and more senior, too). By the way, clients thank me personally all the time, they just do not use the damn word. 
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Do you, dear colleague, have any story to share in this regard? ▲ Collapse
| | | | texjax DDS PhD 
Local time: 21:43
Member (2006)
English to Italian
+ ...
Miguel Carmona wrote:
Do you, dear colleague, have any story to share in this regard?
Volume discount.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 08:13
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | Wallet left in car | Aug 18, 2015 |
This is the excuse I got from a client when I took him to task for late payment. He told me he had been on a trip to somewhere in a friend's car, and has forgottem his wallet in the glove compartment of the car. The friend has now taken off to a distant location and he is unlikely to meet him, or his car, till the next weekend is over. Since the wallet contained all his credit cards, he couldn't pay me till then!
This is the absurdest excuse I have so far managed in my 30 years as a... See more This is the excuse I got from a client when I took him to task for late payment. He told me he had been on a trip to somewhere in a friend's car, and has forgottem his wallet in the glove compartment of the car. The friend has now taken off to a distant location and he is unlikely to meet him, or his car, till the next weekend is over. Since the wallet contained all his credit cards, he couldn't pay me till then!
This is the absurdest excuse I have so far managed in my 30 years as a translator for late payment.
[Edited at 2015-08-18 03:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Dutch to German translation will be done ... | Aug 18, 2015 |
... by chinese students (based in China) in the future, one of my earlier agencies was predicting to me one day when I raised my rate ...
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| Can't pay because the client hasn't paid yet | Aug 18, 2015 |
This is a "favorite" one. I find it laughable because any sort of relationship or contact with the client is prohibited by NDAs (which I am fine with), yet some project managers/agency customers invoke the very inaccessible client as a condition or obstacle to payment, which is the most important part of the entire business transaction besides the translation itself.
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[quote]Miguel Carmona wrote:
I wanted to thank you personally for your excellent work.
What? Personally? I did the work personally, with my own brains, knowledge and hands. It was not the computer or the software that did the work by themselves for me!
Clearly she wanted to take the opportunity, while saying "thank you", to subtly drop the "P" bomb to state her higher position (in her head) in relation to mine. [quote]
Well, I think this is a good behaviour of what people think when they hear other people's words.
In some cultures, "thank you personally" might be understood as "thank you heartfully/from all of my heart", etc. The lady was attempting - in my understanding - to communicate her appreciation to you in a private rather than official way.
Example:
"Dear Miguel,
I, Jane Doe, would like to..." would/should/could/might (depending on recipient's culture codes) be understood as a much higher appreciation than
"Dear Translator,
I, Project Manager, would like to... ."
Of course, we can only guess what the lady's actual intent was. Anyway, I would not feel offended by her words.
Of course, every translator would like to see her/his/my rate raised significantly for future projects by that company as a real proof of their high appreciation.
Regards
Andrzej Mierzejewski
| | | | | I never said I wasn't going to pay you! | Aug 18, 2015 |
This came from a client, not a PM, but has to be one of the most insulting things I've ever been told.
It was his response to me taking legal action against him for persistent non-payment.
I asked him when he HAD been planning to pay me.. when I was retired? *sigh*
As for "wallet left in car" - one of my clients had conveniently "finished her chequebook" when I finally tracked her down for payment...
[Edited at 2015-08-18 08:15 GMT]
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Straying off-topic here, but every time I hear the announcement asking you to "take all your personal belongings with you" when leaving the train I ask myself what the point is of saying "your personal belongings" rather than just "your belongings".
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| Personal belongings | Aug 18, 2015 |
Armorel Young wrote:
I ask myself what the point is of saying "your personal belongings" rather than just "your belongings".
Maybe it's a psychological strategy, reminding you that they are "personal" and therefore important, making you less likely to leave them behind?
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Armorel Young wrote:
Straying off-topic here, but every time I hear the announcement asking you to "take all your personal belongings with you" when leaving the train I ask myself what the point is of saying "your personal belongings" rather than just "your belongings".
My guess is that you can leave behind your "corporate belongings", if employed.
| | | | | Blind estimate | Aug 18, 2015 |
We have a video in EN, and need a cost estimate for translating and dubbing it in PT.
All right, kindly send me the video. You may use WeTransfer.com; it's free for up to 2 GB. Otherwise you may send me the details to download it from your DropBox, FTP, etc.
I can't. The video is strictly confidential. It can't leave our corporate network.
So how can we translate it and get it dubbed?
I don't know. Just give me a cost estimate to have it transl... See more We have a video in EN, and need a cost estimate for translating and dubbing it in PT.
All right, kindly send me the video. You may use WeTransfer.com; it's free for up to 2 GB. Otherwise you may send me the details to download it from your DropBox, FTP, etc.
I can't. The video is strictly confidential. It can't leave our corporate network.
So how can we translate it and get it dubbed?
I don't know. Just give me a cost estimate to have it translated and dubbed in PT.
I felt like making a cost estimate, printing it out, putting it in a paper envelope, and faxing them that sealed envelope, labeled "translation & dubbing cost estimate inside". ▲ Collapse
| | | | | That's why we need a "Like"button... | Aug 18, 2015 |
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
I felt like making a cost estimate, printing it out, putting it in a paper envelope, and faxing them that sealed envelope, labeled "translation & dubbing cost estimate inside".
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Thomas Pfann
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:43
Member (2006)
English to German
+ ...
| ...and an Agree button. | Aug 18, 2015 |
Nele Van den Broeck wrote:
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
I felt like making a cost estimate, printing it out, putting it in a paper envelope, and faxing them that sealed envelope, labeled "translation & dubbing cost estimate inside".
| | | | Miguel Carmona
United States
Local time: 18:43
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
Matthias Brombach wrote:
Dutch to German translation will be done ...
... by chinese students (based in China) in the future, one of my earlier agencies was predicting to me one day when I raised my rate ...
Ha! I wouldn't be surprised they actually believe that. Please read on.
This lady I referred to in my original post, during her time in that agency (in the US), she, an all American girl, and thus a native English speaker, took a vacation and went to Europe. She came back fascinated. She said, “I loved it, everybody speaks Spanish in Europe! I had tons of opportunities to practice my Spanish.” I asked her, “Did you go to Spain?”, she said, “No”.
By the way, her Spanish was truly lacking, no basic grammar, nothing. Just isolated, rote-memorized phrases, way above her Spanish grammar knowledge. A foolish, unproductive and immature practice, as we all know.
I have no idea what she was talking about when she referred to her practicing Spanish all over Europe (not in Spain, though!). Maybe at Spanish restaurants, repeating her memorized phrases? It sends chills down my spine just to think about it.
| | | | Miguel Carmona
United States
Local time: 18:43
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
I felt like making a cost estimate, printing it out, putting it in a paper envelope, and faxing them that sealed envelope, labeled "translation & dubbing cost estimate inside".
Oh man, I love this one. Thank you, José.
Something similar actually happened to me. The client wanted me to translate an entire web site. I had been translating for the company for several years, and I was familiar with their technical material. I said, "Sure, please send me all the files you want translated". She said, "No, that is not necessary. Just visit the site, all is there".
By the way, the site was not a small one. There was not only the numerous web pages, but also a very large amount of PDF files of white papers, legal stuff, technical stuff. Translating all that would take probably years.
How can you deal with somebody like that? How can you embark on the unpaid, ardous task of explaining things to such minds?
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