I Guess I Just Want My $1000...
March 26, 2009 4:24 PM Subscribe
Freelance Filter: I've resigned due to timeline pressures, the arrival of another awesome opportunity, and the fact that I'm 8 months pregnant. I've done six weeks of work which have contributed social capital and goodwill to the project, and organizational/planning work which will be of benefit to my replacement. The "contract" we signed was vague and was only really a statement of work, rather than conditions. In my letter of resignation I proposed to keep 20% of the 1st payment for the work done to date. The team that hired me wants all the money back, I think mainly because they're deeply disappointed that I have quit. It's not like I've been sitting on my hands, and my work to date will benefit them. Before I hand over all my work to date and write the cheque to refund the 50%, how should I word my request that they reconsider allowing me to keep a portion of the fee? (Giant background story included, to explain the usual & unusual complications which lead to my departure.)
The contract is to create a technical & creative document outlining where this community and their community association wants to go in the coming years vis. their development and planning. The hiring committee consists of community volunteers, who first approached me last July and asked for cv & background, said I was perfect, then fell into silence for two months, after which they decided they needed to open it to a public RFP. I applied, and in my introduction letter I mentioned I was now pregnant and proposed a do-able schedule that involved a quick turnaround in the already long hiring process so I could start immediately.
The RFP closed in December, and, knowing I was the best candidate, I pushed them to do the interview as soon as possible. Instead, they fiddled around until late January. Our inside source on the committee told me I was still a shoo-in, and lamented the disorganization & delays of the committee as having been typical of the whole process so far.
Eager to get this show on the road, in the interview I asked whether, if they hired me, could we get the contract signed and the work started asap, a committee member mentioned that they were still waiting on documents from two other potential candidates (to the discomfort of everyone else around the table, since my obvious next question was, "I may have misunderstood, but didn't the RFP close on December 15th?"). They were either posturing (ridiculous), or not adhering to the point of a public RFP. Either way, they spent a week "deliberating" and then hired me, as expected all along. It took another week to sign the contract, and then another week again to receive the first cheque (50% of the project total). Every Mefi freelancer will know that you just can't start the work before the cheque hits your hands, especially with volunteer-driven projects, because the delays can (and in this case did) go on and on and sometimes things fall through and you've completely wasted your time. But the delay meant that I didn't officially start work until the first week of February.
In late January my grandfather died, and just as the project deposit cheque arrived, my computer crashed and burned and melted, and went into the shop for three weeks, during which time I had no machine. I kept going with the background research and organizing community interviews and preparations for the writing phase, but this period was a professional gong show. When I got back in the saddle full time at the end of February I was definitely worried about the project timeline, and concerned about getting everything done before I give birth in May. As I worked through the contextual and background research, it also became clear that the project was less well-defined than they'd made it seem and I had originally assumed. Yes, giant red flag.
I needed to meet with these committee members for individual interviews and each of them have been too busy to do anything but send me repeated "HUGE apologies for the delay, I'm crazy nuts at work right now, let's talk next week" emails for three weeks, if they replied at all. I spoke to our friend on the committee (also too busy to meet) over email and by phone and was like, "Dude, the timeline is in trouble, this project is way more nebulous than originally outlined, I'm working on it and I'm hoping I hit a breakthrough, but we're going to need longer deadlines."
Then, I received word that I'd gotten a gigantic arts grant. My usual work is as a photographer, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-sized, career-making, totally unexpected grant. A week later, another envelope arrived to inform us that my husband had also gotten a huge, complementary, for-the-same-work-but-in-a-different-field arts grant. The news changed everything about how we have to spend the rest of the year. This project will take our whole family overseas for several months in the autumn. We're hiring two assistants to help us work on the prep, we're hiring assistants on the ground overseas, etc. Huge. HUGE! We would have been leaping for joy, except for the increasingly snaggly snafu that was this community project, and its bleeding timelines and lack of support structure.
I stumbled along for another two weeks on the community project, trying to get things done, trying to nail down the committee members (unsuccessful), doing interviews with stakeholders in the community and preparing the document framework, increasingly exhausted from the pregnancy and stressed about the timeline problems and the communication problems with the committee members I needed to speak to. Hoping for that breakthrough that could make the timeline possible. Increasingly fearing that I was not going to get everything done. Worried about the pressures this project's delays could/would put on my arts grant project work after the birth (the timelines were now stretching past the birth and on into June and July, by projections), although the arts grant work is very obviously the more important career priority, particularly long-term.
Then, last week, I had a big Braxton-Hicks contraction that knocked me on my ass (literally). It was the evening of our daughter's fourth birthday. I experienced an epiphany: get out of this community contract immediately.
I was the right person for the contract, but at the wrong time. In the interview we established the need for the committee members to be available as support and resource people to the project and they said yes yes yes OF COURSE yes. But the reality is that the committee members are volunteers with their own jobs and lives and their timelines are obviously not going to get easier. Ultimately, they hired me because they'd been trying to get this document produced in-house for two years and it just wasn't happening, and they finally got funding to hire a contractor to write it up. The hope was obviously to hand off the responsibility and let the writer whip it all into a final product they themselves couldn't precisely define at the outset. Because of our friendship with the one committee member and his repeated assurances that he was going to be there, under the official radar, for consultation and support 24/7 (not panning out); and because we'd been discussing and dancing along towards me being the writer on this project for nearly six months before I actually got the contract, I was not thinking as clearly about the red flags and shaky preconditions in this project as I would usually about my writing contracts with external groups.
When I tendered my resignation the committee member friend was shocked and incredibly hurt. I was going to be his "in" to being able to influence the document (not directly possible as a committee member). Although he is the prominent member of the group, he didn't notify the committee of my resignation and so a few days later I received another "sorry I've been so busy, let's meet next week" email from another committee member and in response I sent my resignation to the whole committee. Other than a "thanks a lot, you made me look bad" email from the committee member friend, there were two days of silence during which I assume the committee was discussing next steps.
Then I received a call from one of the other committee members to arrange pick up of the substantial background documentation and a refund cheque from me. And she notified me that the committee was unanimous in believing that I need to return the entire amount, without keeping a fee for my work to date.
So here's my thing: I need out of this project. These committee members know they delayed the start of this project for months and then frittered away valuable time in January. My letter of resignation does not assign blame and states a) that I received the giant arts grant which will dominate my work priority time after I give birth (originally considered "spill-over" time in which I would complete their project if it wasn't done before I gave birth), and b) that I had a contraction last week which made me re-evaluate my work on the project given the unexpectedly less-organized nature of the final product than originally assumed in the RFP and interview process.
I am willing to absorb most of the blame for my departure in order to extricate myself from the project and avoid wasting any more of my and their time. Sure, it's easy to fault me: I'm pregnant, I shoulda known it would impact my stamina and headspace (inevitable, unstated, not-nice non-feminist angle). My grandfather's death & the related family chaos is not their fault. My computer problems are not their fault. The fact that I received a big grant that will consume my post-partum period and workflow is not their fault. True, true, true. That they farted around for five months after originally approaching me won't be considered. That they couldn't/didn't make themselves available to me despite repeated requests will have a lot of excellent individual explanations. They will not want to take the lack of accurate project goals and outcomes into account - as people in unrelated fields, the committee members will certainly decide that it's the contractor's job to figure things out. My one potential ally on that committee has already said, "I hate you." So he obviously isn't speaking up on my behalf. I really 'get' the self-righteous anger they've probably whipped up about this wrench I've thrown into their schedule, and the inconvenience I will have caused by making them hire someone else.
However, like I say, I have done a certain amount of work on the project to date. I feel that should be worth something (although the contract does not outline anything regarding a 'kill fee' or anything like this kind of situation). I would have taken other work for that period if I'd known the project would be so different than anticipated. The background documents arrived in bags and are now organized in files and accordion folders, notated, bookmarked and labelled, contact lists established and notified and worked. My in-home community interviews have significantly raised the profile of, and improved community relations with this committee and the project, whereas before I started there was some serious animosity for this project amongst a section of the community members.
As a professional I intend to hand over everything as it is, mainly to assist my replacement (who will be less qualified than I am to do this job, and will need all the help he/she can get). It obviously accomplishes nothing positive to go through all the background sources to yank out my post-it notes and bookmarks (annotated and cross-referenced), and/or to hold back my notes and conclusions from the various community interviews, or refuse to hand over the framework documents I've created so far.
In demanding the entire 50% deposit back, I feel the committee is knee-jerking on their emotional response to the burden of having to find someone else. Sure, they didn't get their draft document, but that doesn't mean I didn't work for them for six weeks and produce measurable benefits for the project as a whole in that time. Asking me to hand back the entire amount implies that my time and the work I've done is of no value, which is false.
It was not appropriate to try to argue it out with the woman who called me, since she was representing the committee's view as a group. I would like to send an email (BRIEFLY) stating my case. Obviously I am not good at the "briefly" part, so here I throw the door open for AskMefi suggestions.
How would you phrase the "I worked on this for six weeks and you'll benefit from that work. Please don't be so ungenerous as to demand the whole deposit back. How about something for my trouble?" email?
Please: no "get a lawyer" comments. I have zero wish to take this to that level. I just want to state my case to these committee members, send it off, and let their collective conscience be the final judge of what will happen. If, after reading my "please be reasonable" email, they decide that they still want the whole deposit back, I will give it to them.
(Holy moley, this was long.)
The contract is to create a technical & creative document outlining where this community and their community association wants to go in the coming years vis. their development and planning. The hiring committee consists of community volunteers, who first approached me last July and asked for cv & background, said I was perfect, then fell into silence for two months, after which they decided they needed to open it to a public RFP. I applied, and in my introduction letter I mentioned I was now pregnant and proposed a do-able schedule that involved a quick turnaround in the already long hiring process so I could start immediately.
The RFP closed in December, and, knowing I was the best candidate, I pushed them to do the interview as soon as possible. Instead, they fiddled around until late January. Our inside source on the committee told me I was still a shoo-in, and lamented the disorganization & delays of the committee as having been typical of the whole process so far.
Eager to get this show on the road, in the interview I asked whether, if they hired me, could we get the contract signed and the work started asap, a committee member mentioned that they were still waiting on documents from two other potential candidates (to the discomfort of everyone else around the table, since my obvious next question was, "I may have misunderstood, but didn't the RFP close on December 15th?"). They were either posturing (ridiculous), or not adhering to the point of a public RFP. Either way, they spent a week "deliberating" and then hired me, as expected all along. It took another week to sign the contract, and then another week again to receive the first cheque (50% of the project total). Every Mefi freelancer will know that you just can't start the work before the cheque hits your hands, especially with volunteer-driven projects, because the delays can (and in this case did) go on and on and sometimes things fall through and you've completely wasted your time. But the delay meant that I didn't officially start work until the first week of February.
In late January my grandfather died, and just as the project deposit cheque arrived, my computer crashed and burned and melted, and went into the shop for three weeks, during which time I had no machine. I kept going with the background research and organizing community interviews and preparations for the writing phase, but this period was a professional gong show. When I got back in the saddle full time at the end of February I was definitely worried about the project timeline, and concerned about getting everything done before I give birth in May. As I worked through the contextual and background research, it also became clear that the project was less well-defined than they'd made it seem and I had originally assumed. Yes, giant red flag.
I needed to meet with these committee members for individual interviews and each of them have been too busy to do anything but send me repeated "HUGE apologies for the delay, I'm crazy nuts at work right now, let's talk next week" emails for three weeks, if they replied at all. I spoke to our friend on the committee (also too busy to meet) over email and by phone and was like, "Dude, the timeline is in trouble, this project is way more nebulous than originally outlined, I'm working on it and I'm hoping I hit a breakthrough, but we're going to need longer deadlines."
Then, I received word that I'd gotten a gigantic arts grant. My usual work is as a photographer, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-sized, career-making, totally unexpected grant. A week later, another envelope arrived to inform us that my husband had also gotten a huge, complementary, for-the-same-work-but-in-a-different-field arts grant. The news changed everything about how we have to spend the rest of the year. This project will take our whole family overseas for several months in the autumn. We're hiring two assistants to help us work on the prep, we're hiring assistants on the ground overseas, etc. Huge. HUGE! We would have been leaping for joy, except for the increasingly snaggly snafu that was this community project, and its bleeding timelines and lack of support structure.
I stumbled along for another two weeks on the community project, trying to get things done, trying to nail down the committee members (unsuccessful), doing interviews with stakeholders in the community and preparing the document framework, increasingly exhausted from the pregnancy and stressed about the timeline problems and the communication problems with the committee members I needed to speak to. Hoping for that breakthrough that could make the timeline possible. Increasingly fearing that I was not going to get everything done. Worried about the pressures this project's delays could/would put on my arts grant project work after the birth (the timelines were now stretching past the birth and on into June and July, by projections), although the arts grant work is very obviously the more important career priority, particularly long-term.
Then, last week, I had a big Braxton-Hicks contraction that knocked me on my ass (literally). It was the evening of our daughter's fourth birthday. I experienced an epiphany: get out of this community contract immediately.
I was the right person for the contract, but at the wrong time. In the interview we established the need for the committee members to be available as support and resource people to the project and they said yes yes yes OF COURSE yes. But the reality is that the committee members are volunteers with their own jobs and lives and their timelines are obviously not going to get easier. Ultimately, they hired me because they'd been trying to get this document produced in-house for two years and it just wasn't happening, and they finally got funding to hire a contractor to write it up. The hope was obviously to hand off the responsibility and let the writer whip it all into a final product they themselves couldn't precisely define at the outset. Because of our friendship with the one committee member and his repeated assurances that he was going to be there, under the official radar, for consultation and support 24/7 (not panning out); and because we'd been discussing and dancing along towards me being the writer on this project for nearly six months before I actually got the contract, I was not thinking as clearly about the red flags and shaky preconditions in this project as I would usually about my writing contracts with external groups.
When I tendered my resignation the committee member friend was shocked and incredibly hurt. I was going to be his "in" to being able to influence the document (not directly possible as a committee member). Although he is the prominent member of the group, he didn't notify the committee of my resignation and so a few days later I received another "sorry I've been so busy, let's meet next week" email from another committee member and in response I sent my resignation to the whole committee. Other than a "thanks a lot, you made me look bad" email from the committee member friend, there were two days of silence during which I assume the committee was discussing next steps.
Then I received a call from one of the other committee members to arrange pick up of the substantial background documentation and a refund cheque from me. And she notified me that the committee was unanimous in believing that I need to return the entire amount, without keeping a fee for my work to date.
So here's my thing: I need out of this project. These committee members know they delayed the start of this project for months and then frittered away valuable time in January. My letter of resignation does not assign blame and states a) that I received the giant arts grant which will dominate my work priority time after I give birth (originally considered "spill-over" time in which I would complete their project if it wasn't done before I gave birth), and b) that I had a contraction last week which made me re-evaluate my work on the project given the unexpectedly less-organized nature of the final product than originally assumed in the RFP and interview process.
I am willing to absorb most of the blame for my departure in order to extricate myself from the project and avoid wasting any more of my and their time. Sure, it's easy to fault me: I'm pregnant, I shoulda known it would impact my stamina and headspace (inevitable, unstated, not-nice non-feminist angle). My grandfather's death & the related family chaos is not their fault. My computer problems are not their fault. The fact that I received a big grant that will consume my post-partum period and workflow is not their fault. True, true, true. That they farted around for five months after originally approaching me won't be considered. That they couldn't/didn't make themselves available to me despite repeated requests will have a lot of excellent individual explanations. They will not want to take the lack of accurate project goals and outcomes into account - as people in unrelated fields, the committee members will certainly decide that it's the contractor's job to figure things out. My one potential ally on that committee has already said, "I hate you." So he obviously isn't speaking up on my behalf. I really 'get' the self-righteous anger they've probably whipped up about this wrench I've thrown into their schedule, and the inconvenience I will have caused by making them hire someone else.
However, like I say, I have done a certain amount of work on the project to date. I feel that should be worth something (although the contract does not outline anything regarding a 'kill fee' or anything like this kind of situation). I would have taken other work for that period if I'd known the project would be so different than anticipated. The background documents arrived in bags and are now organized in files and accordion folders, notated, bookmarked and labelled, contact lists established and notified and worked. My in-home community interviews have significantly raised the profile of, and improved community relations with this committee and the project, whereas before I started there was some serious animosity for this project amongst a section of the community members.
As a professional I intend to hand over everything as it is, mainly to assist my replacement (who will be less qualified than I am to do this job, and will need all the help he/she can get). It obviously accomplishes nothing positive to go through all the background sources to yank out my post-it notes and bookmarks (annotated and cross-referenced), and/or to hold back my notes and conclusions from the various community interviews, or refuse to hand over the framework documents I've created so far.
In demanding the entire 50% deposit back, I feel the committee is knee-jerking on their emotional response to the burden of having to find someone else. Sure, they didn't get their draft document, but that doesn't mean I didn't work for them for six weeks and produce measurable benefits for the project as a whole in that time. Asking me to hand back the entire amount implies that my time and the work I've done is of no value, which is false.
It was not appropriate to try to argue it out with the woman who called me, since she was representing the committee's view as a group. I would like to send an email (BRIEFLY) stating my case. Obviously I am not good at the "briefly" part, so here I throw the door open for AskMefi suggestions.
How would you phrase the "I worked on this for six weeks and you'll benefit from that work. Please don't be so ungenerous as to demand the whole deposit back. How about something for my trouble?" email?
Please: no "get a lawyer" comments. I have zero wish to take this to that level. I just want to state my case to these committee members, send it off, and let their collective conscience be the final judge of what will happen. If, after reading my "please be reasonable" email, they decide that they still want the whole deposit back, I will give it to them.
(Holy moley, this was long.)
Best answer: So here's my thing: I need out of this project.
So give them their money back and walk away. The rest of your post is a valuable lesson learned. Be super conservative about contingencies - i.e. have a backup machine and plan properly for major life changes! This is freelancer best practice.
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:40 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
So give them their money back and walk away. The rest of your post is a valuable lesson learned. Be super conservative about contingencies - i.e. have a backup machine and plan properly for major life changes! This is freelancer best practice.
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:40 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Sorry to say this...but ...You didn't hold up your end of a statement of work and deliver the product contained within that statement of work. If the contract was time and materials you might have a leg to stand on, but if it was a completed project delivered (which it sounds like it was) you don't have much to go on beyond seeing if they are inclined to pay you for it out of their own good will and they don't seem to be likely to do that...
posted by iamabot at 4:41 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by iamabot at 4:41 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: It's hard to suggest much without knowing the details of your contract. My usual contract states that I or the other party can cancel with X weeks' notice and I will be paid for the work I've done to that point. If your contract doesn't say that, then you're in a difficult spot.
While it's too late for this to be helpful, if you find yourself in a similar position in the future, your resignation might be accepted more professionally if you simply point out that there was a deadline for the project, the initial progress clearly has not adhered to that deadline, and that you therefore need to leave the project so you can accommodate other obligations that you scheduled back when your scheduled this project.
I definitely wouldn't have mentioned the contraction or the grant. Mentioning the grant in particular can sound like, "A better project came along so I'm dumping you."
From this point on, I'd suggest dealing with your main contact rather than the whole committee. It will get forwarded anyway but will seem less like you defending yourself. You could send that one person a professional email pointing out that the schedule slippage, while understandable given the nature of the project, yada yada, has made the project conflict with obligations that you scheduled when you accepted the project. You want the project to succeed, but you feel it's important to be paid for your time, which was X hours. Because your work is well organized and you'd be happy to answer the replacement person's questions, the committee will not have to pay someone to do that work over again. Or something like that. Make it short, professional, and non-defensive and with as few personal details as possible.
posted by PatoPata at 4:45 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
While it's too late for this to be helpful, if you find yourself in a similar position in the future, your resignation might be accepted more professionally if you simply point out that there was a deadline for the project, the initial progress clearly has not adhered to that deadline, and that you therefore need to leave the project so you can accommodate other obligations that you scheduled back when your scheduled this project.
I definitely wouldn't have mentioned the contraction or the grant. Mentioning the grant in particular can sound like, "A better project came along so I'm dumping you."
From this point on, I'd suggest dealing with your main contact rather than the whole committee. It will get forwarded anyway but will seem less like you defending yourself. You could send that one person a professional email pointing out that the schedule slippage, while understandable given the nature of the project, yada yada, has made the project conflict with obligations that you scheduled when you accepted the project. You want the project to succeed, but you feel it's important to be paid for your time, which was X hours. Because your work is well organized and you'd be happy to answer the replacement person's questions, the committee will not have to pay someone to do that work over again. Or something like that. Make it short, professional, and non-defensive and with as few personal details as possible.
posted by PatoPata at 4:45 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The OP isn't alleging that she's legally entitled to anything, just ethically entitled. It sounds like she's interested in sending one e-mail / letter, then dropping it if that doesn't pan out. Sounds like a good plan, if she can do it without seeming too grasping - and that should be possible.
Mrs Hilksom, can you prepare an itemized invoice-like statement of the hours you've actually put into this, explaining for each item how it will benefit and save time for the person who picks this up after you? I think that seeing your work broken down item by item, and benefit by benefit, may be your best shot. You can also include information for each item like "status: waiting for meeting with volunteer Jim Jones" and the dates.
This might even make you feel better, and will illustrate exactly what your up against. Heck, you might even teach them something -- and to anyone who would say that it's not a consultant's job to teach the committee about the value of her work, I'd say: no one else is going to teach them.
If you come up with a general hourly rate, total everything up, and then add a "75% discount for withdrawing from contract" line item at the end, well, who knows.
You should probably include a big "This is not an invoice, just a statement of work done" line at the top where no one could miss it and get huffy over _that_.
Good luck. I'm not 100% sure this will help rather than hurt, but I propose that it bears consideration.
posted by amtho at 4:52 PM on March 26, 2009
Mrs Hilksom, can you prepare an itemized invoice-like statement of the hours you've actually put into this, explaining for each item how it will benefit and save time for the person who picks this up after you? I think that seeing your work broken down item by item, and benefit by benefit, may be your best shot. You can also include information for each item like "status: waiting for meeting with volunteer Jim Jones" and the dates.
This might even make you feel better, and will illustrate exactly what your up against. Heck, you might even teach them something -- and to anyone who would say that it's not a consultant's job to teach the committee about the value of her work, I'd say: no one else is going to teach them.
If you come up with a general hourly rate, total everything up, and then add a "75% discount for withdrawing from contract" line item at the end, well, who knows.
You should probably include a big "This is not an invoice, just a statement of work done" line at the top where no one could miss it and get huffy over _that_.
Good luck. I'm not 100% sure this will help rather than hurt, but I propose that it bears consideration.
posted by amtho at 4:52 PM on March 26, 2009
It appears from your description that legally, you have no claim on the money but would like them to pay a little out of generosity, since you already put some time into it. That's the line you should take: claim that you worked for a while, have some intermediate results to show for it, and believe that a little compensation for those intermediate results would be appropriate. I'd expect them to say no though.
When you look at it from their perspective, the net worth of what you've done is negative: not only have you not completed what they asked for, but you've also taken up time and now, it may take longer for the project to be finished. Now, the project probably won't meet the timeline. The fact that you spent *your* time is only relevant to you and not them. So keep that in mind, and try to argue why it would be a good idea from *their* perspective for them to let you keep a portion of your deposit. Leveraging the notes/bookmarks you have may be your best argument, but playing hardball here can be bad for your professional reputation, since it's you who's bailing out of the contract.
posted by bsdfish at 4:53 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
When you look at it from their perspective, the net worth of what you've done is negative: not only have you not completed what they asked for, but you've also taken up time and now, it may take longer for the project to be finished. Now, the project probably won't meet the timeline. The fact that you spent *your* time is only relevant to you and not them. So keep that in mind, and try to argue why it would be a good idea from *their* perspective for them to let you keep a portion of your deposit. Leveraging the notes/bookmarks you have may be your best argument, but playing hardball here can be bad for your professional reputation, since it's you who's bailing out of the contract.
posted by bsdfish at 4:53 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Your only argument that work you've done might save time (and hence money) when they hire your replacement is if you facilitated agreement on anything by the committee, e.g., a vision statement, an outline of the document, or any other such matter than now need not be revisited. Otherwise, the replacement will have to start over, no matter how wonderful your interview notes, because he/she will need to develop trusting relationships with the same folks. Moreover, those you've already interviewed will need to repeat the process as well, costing them time too. For future reference, community/volunteer groups always take at least three times as long to fulfill their commitments as they estimate.
Salvage whatever goodwill might remain by giving back the entire deposit and foregoing the $1000. Even if you had better arguments for your position, it's not worth the time and energy to fight about it.
posted by carmicha at 4:55 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Salvage whatever goodwill might remain by giving back the entire deposit and foregoing the $1000. Even if you had better arguments for your position, it's not worth the time and energy to fight about it.
posted by carmicha at 4:55 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You would have a legal claim to some money (unlike what many of the above posters believe -- unjust enrichment anyone?). But since you don't want lawyers involved, here's what I'd do:
1. Figure out how many hours you've worked on the project.
2. Multiple it by some conservative hourly wage that you think you should be paid.
3. Write the committee a check for the 50% amount minus that amount.
4. If the committee sues you, give them back the rest of their money.
I highly doubt that they'd sue you for whatever amount you take, especially if it's an entirely reasonable amount. But if we're talking chump change here -- an amount that you could throw away and not think twice about -- them maybe you should just do that and be done with it.
posted by lockestockbarrel at 5:16 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
1. Figure out how many hours you've worked on the project.
2. Multiple it by some conservative hourly wage that you think you should be paid.
3. Write the committee a check for the 50% amount minus that amount.
4. If the committee sues you, give them back the rest of their money.
I highly doubt that they'd sue you for whatever amount you take, especially if it's an entirely reasonable amount. But if we're talking chump change here -- an amount that you could throw away and not think twice about -- them maybe you should just do that and be done with it.
posted by lockestockbarrel at 5:16 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
You don't have to use a lawyer just to attack them, you could use the advice of a lawyer to figure out, for instance, that if you don't get paid, then they don't get to use the work. Other than that, if the grant is so huge then why is this a big deal? Seconding walking away.
posted by rhizome at 5:20 PM on March 26, 2009
posted by rhizome at 5:20 PM on March 26, 2009
Listen, I understand where you're coming from, but the fact is that these people would be perfectly willing to let you keep this money (and a whole bunch more more money!) if you were willing to complete this job. Which you are not, because there's another bunch of money you like more.
Write them a cheque for the whole amount and send it with your profound apologies.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:41 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Write them a cheque for the whole amount and send it with your profound apologies.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:41 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: FTR, when things get weird like this I do generally take the approach of walking away and preserving my professional dignity and reputation. Those of you who have said it's not worth it to fight are probably right. I am prepared to walk away in this situation as well.
I thought about the resignation letter a lot before I wrote and sent it, and mentioned the contraction and the grant because I live in the next community over, and they know me as a neighbour beyond my capacity as their project person. They'd've heard about the grant in any case at some point, so I thought I should get it out into the open so they wouldn't be able to claim that I was blaming the timeline when really it was the grant that pulled me away from the project. In truth it's more the timeline than anything, because the delays have pushed it further and further into the year. But they won't see it that way.
But PatoPata's advice is sound and I should have taken that approach. Like I mentioned, my thinking on this contract has obviously been less cogent than usual due to the relationships with people on the committee and in the community, and my physical proximity to their community.
I guess I've brought this to AskMefi because I've felt weird since I got off the phone with that committee member. I get the very clear sense that they're being stony and ungenerous about this for emotional reasons. The six week delay I will have caused is coming after a many-months twiddling of thumbs and disorganization at their end, during which time this contract could easily have been drafted, revised, taken to the community for input, redrafted, and completed.
My work thusfar will benefit my replacement. I want to point this out in a very very brief email and ask them to consider a kill fee for my work thusfar. If they say no, I'll say fine and take the high road. Better to walk away knowing I did the right thing.
Thanks for the advice so far. I'd like to inure myself against further criticism and be wiser in future work, so all comments are welcome - please weigh in if you have an opinion.
posted by Mrs Hilksom at 5:55 PM on March 26, 2009
I thought about the resignation letter a lot before I wrote and sent it, and mentioned the contraction and the grant because I live in the next community over, and they know me as a neighbour beyond my capacity as their project person. They'd've heard about the grant in any case at some point, so I thought I should get it out into the open so they wouldn't be able to claim that I was blaming the timeline when really it was the grant that pulled me away from the project. In truth it's more the timeline than anything, because the delays have pushed it further and further into the year. But they won't see it that way.
But PatoPata's advice is sound and I should have taken that approach. Like I mentioned, my thinking on this contract has obviously been less cogent than usual due to the relationships with people on the committee and in the community, and my physical proximity to their community.
I guess I've brought this to AskMefi because I've felt weird since I got off the phone with that committee member. I get the very clear sense that they're being stony and ungenerous about this for emotional reasons. The six week delay I will have caused is coming after a many-months twiddling of thumbs and disorganization at their end, during which time this contract could easily have been drafted, revised, taken to the community for input, redrafted, and completed.
My work thusfar will benefit my replacement. I want to point this out in a very very brief email and ask them to consider a kill fee for my work thusfar. If they say no, I'll say fine and take the high road. Better to walk away knowing I did the right thing.
Thanks for the advice so far. I'd like to inure myself against further criticism and be wiser in future work, so all comments are welcome - please weigh in if you have an opinion.
posted by Mrs Hilksom at 5:55 PM on March 26, 2009
I agree with Darling Bri, it's the right thing to do to give it all back - you didn't fulfill your part of the contract, and their disorganization at the start is not really relevant. You've flaked out on the deal. Maybe it was for good reason, but it was still . . . flaky. So cough up the money and learn a lesson. They've already decided that you've dropped the ball, and the contract *was* for completion of the project.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 5:55 PM on March 26, 2009
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 5:55 PM on March 26, 2009
I think you are amazingly fortunate with the grants you have lined up. It's a bird in the hand, take it and go. If you live around and interact with these people, you don't want to rile up animosity further. And you dont want to burn any bridges (shaky as they might be at the moment) in case theres other opportunities for work with them when you get back.
posted by CTORourke at 6:57 PM on March 26, 2009
posted by CTORourke at 6:57 PM on March 26, 2009
Attempts to extract killfees from a committee that's already emotionally set against paying you at all for your work, will simply look petty and like you're begging, at a time when they know you just got a generous grant. The badwill generated isn't worth it, given that you don't need the money. Walk away. Maybe in the future you'll get a chance to tell your side, about how their delays caused far worse problems than yours.
posted by fatbird at 7:48 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by fatbird at 7:48 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
I'm surprised that so many people are recommending giving all the money back and being really sorry, etc. I mean, it's not like you're stealing anything from them. You did some amount of work that is benefiting them. It's not all the work they expected to get, but it's more work than what they had when you both signed the contract.
Like, if I hired a baker to make me a cake and he did everything but put icing on it, should he get none of his contract money? He did some amount of work (baking the cake) and I received some amount of benefit (the cake). He shouldn't get all the contract money because he didn't complete it (I'll have to hire someone else to make icing or do it myself), but he should get whatever amount that cake is worth. How you calculate it is a different story, but he's definitely entitled to it.
Also, I wouldn't be so down on breaking the contract. This happens all the time and it's not some horribly bad, immoral thing. In fact, I'd rather you break the contract because it's a more efficient use of resources. Look at it macro -- should we have your talents stuck completing this project or out using the grant? You're more valuable to society using the grant, so you should break the contract that's producing less value for society. So I wouldn't feel too bad about breaking the contract, and if you choose to return all the money I'd consider that generous on YOUR part, not a penalty for being flaky or something.
posted by lockestockbarrel at 10:56 PM on March 26, 2009
Like, if I hired a baker to make me a cake and he did everything but put icing on it, should he get none of his contract money? He did some amount of work (baking the cake) and I received some amount of benefit (the cake). He shouldn't get all the contract money because he didn't complete it (I'll have to hire someone else to make icing or do it myself), but he should get whatever amount that cake is worth. How you calculate it is a different story, but he's definitely entitled to it.
Also, I wouldn't be so down on breaking the contract. This happens all the time and it's not some horribly bad, immoral thing. In fact, I'd rather you break the contract because it's a more efficient use of resources. Look at it macro -- should we have your talents stuck completing this project or out using the grant? You're more valuable to society using the grant, so you should break the contract that's producing less value for society. So I wouldn't feel too bad about breaking the contract, and if you choose to return all the money I'd consider that generous on YOUR part, not a penalty for being flaky or something.
posted by lockestockbarrel at 10:56 PM on March 26, 2009
Best answer: I see a very strong work ethic and an abundance of loyalty and faith in your actions. I sense a generous and caring person behind this posting. I am sorry that you have to go through this; these type of situations suck.
Here are my two cents:
Legally, you are apparently not entitled to a partial fee. (IANAL)
Ethically, there's really no governing principle here.
Practically, you should let this go. It's sucking up time and life energy.
Emotionally - this is an opportunity to get to know yourself better.
* Why do you think you are having such a strong emotional reaction to this?
* How does it make you feel - unvalued, taken advantage of, foolish? Nobody likes to feel foolish.
* What other factors are involved? You're doing business with friends - always thorny.
* Why did you ignore that inner voice and keep pushing on when the first red flags started going up?
* How did they manage to successfully sandbag you with delays? What skills and insights do you need to deal with that in the future?
* What self-conceptions does this outcome threaten? Do you like to consider yourself business-savvy, reliable, giving? The sting of a perceived betrayal is worse when you feel like you've been exceedingly generous and kind and loyal.
* Do you often play the role of fixer, giver, doer? If so, why?
What have you learned from all this? Try not to make sweeping rules (No more non-profits! No more working for friends!), but rather develop specific strategies, tactics, and guidelines. Accept that you're human; you make mistakes. Get the most out of it, and move on.
To be honest, I get really worked up about situations like this too. Many a brave soul have talked me down from the ledge. I hope I could be of some little comfort to you here. Congratulations on the new arrival - I can tell you are going to be a great mom!
posted by metaseeker at 12:17 AM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]
Here are my two cents:
Legally, you are apparently not entitled to a partial fee. (IANAL)
Ethically, there's really no governing principle here.
Practically, you should let this go. It's sucking up time and life energy.
Emotionally - this is an opportunity to get to know yourself better.
* Why do you think you are having such a strong emotional reaction to this?
* How does it make you feel - unvalued, taken advantage of, foolish? Nobody likes to feel foolish.
* What other factors are involved? You're doing business with friends - always thorny.
* Why did you ignore that inner voice and keep pushing on when the first red flags started going up?
* How did they manage to successfully sandbag you with delays? What skills and insights do you need to deal with that in the future?
* What self-conceptions does this outcome threaten? Do you like to consider yourself business-savvy, reliable, giving? The sting of a perceived betrayal is worse when you feel like you've been exceedingly generous and kind and loyal.
* Do you often play the role of fixer, giver, doer? If so, why?
What have you learned from all this? Try not to make sweeping rules (No more non-profits! No more working for friends!), but rather develop specific strategies, tactics, and guidelines. Accept that you're human; you make mistakes. Get the most out of it, and move on.
To be honest, I get really worked up about situations like this too. Many a brave soul have talked me down from the ledge. I hope I could be of some little comfort to you here. Congratulations on the new arrival - I can tell you are going to be a great mom!
posted by metaseeker at 12:17 AM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]
lockestockbarrel: Like, if I hired a baker to make me a cake and he did everything but put icing on it, should he get none of his contract money?
Correct, he should get none of the contract money. An un-iced cake three hours before your wedding is useless.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:48 AM on March 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
Correct, he should get none of the contract money. An un-iced cake three hours before your wedding is useless.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:48 AM on March 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
Their main concern is the work is not done, right? So, here's a different approach: Tell them, "You are right! I should finish the contract, and I will." Then, subcontract the work to someone else to finish, with your oversight.
posted by Houstonian at 6:07 AM on March 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by Houstonian at 6:07 AM on March 27, 2009 [2 favorites]
Also keep in mind that if you're not entitled to any fee, they're not entitled to any of the work done thus far. Your first mistake was probably telling them you're quitting because of the grant. There's not much you can do about that now. You'll probably have to give the money back. If they want the work you've done thus far, you can negotiate from there.
posted by electroboy at 7:04 AM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by electroboy at 7:04 AM on March 27, 2009 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Also, never work without an agreed upon schedule. Do a quick on Microsoft Project, then notify people when their lack of action is affecting the schedule.
posted by electroboy at 7:06 AM on March 27, 2009
posted by electroboy at 7:06 AM on March 27, 2009
My work thusfar will benefit my replacement. I want to point this out in a very very brief email and ask them to consider a kill fee for my work thusfar.
I think before you go down this road, you should take a really hard (and honest) look at whether the work you've done is actually something that will save your replacement time. As someone who has replaced people on projects that sound kind of similar to this--and as someone who has also handed off projects to others--I have found that oftentimes things need to be done over from scratch, because the value in what is done in early stages of a project is so much more about orienting yourself to the work and starting the process of framing the ultimate questions, not about gathering the actual documents.
It's easy to feel like of course the work you did organizing and annotating background documents and conducting preliminary interviews MUST be worth something, but the truth is that in many cases it's just not that transferable. If you hand a beautifully annotated and organized file to a brand new person, they probably will spend just as much time going through that file, getting familiar with the documentation and evaluating your notes, as they would have if they were starting with a stack of totally unorganized materials. Likewise, I find that reading through someone else's notes about an interview only gets me about 20% of what I would have gotten by being present at the interview, because (1) it's never a verbatim transcript, and the unwritten stuff can be important even if not important enough to be written down and (2) body language and tone is a big part of putting what this person is saying into context, and that's totally lost in notes.
I sympathize with the fact that you've done work and given up opportunities, but this letter risks coming across as unprofessional if you try to argue from the position of what your time is worth ($1,000 or whatever) versus a realistic estimate of how much that work is worth to the next person they hire. Unfortunately, particularly early in the project, the two numbers can be pretty far apart.
posted by iminurmefi at 9:15 AM on March 27, 2009
I think before you go down this road, you should take a really hard (and honest) look at whether the work you've done is actually something that will save your replacement time. As someone who has replaced people on projects that sound kind of similar to this--and as someone who has also handed off projects to others--I have found that oftentimes things need to be done over from scratch, because the value in what is done in early stages of a project is so much more about orienting yourself to the work and starting the process of framing the ultimate questions, not about gathering the actual documents.
It's easy to feel like of course the work you did organizing and annotating background documents and conducting preliminary interviews MUST be worth something, but the truth is that in many cases it's just not that transferable. If you hand a beautifully annotated and organized file to a brand new person, they probably will spend just as much time going through that file, getting familiar with the documentation and evaluating your notes, as they would have if they were starting with a stack of totally unorganized materials. Likewise, I find that reading through someone else's notes about an interview only gets me about 20% of what I would have gotten by being present at the interview, because (1) it's never a verbatim transcript, and the unwritten stuff can be important even if not important enough to be written down and (2) body language and tone is a big part of putting what this person is saying into context, and that's totally lost in notes.
I sympathize with the fact that you've done work and given up opportunities, but this letter risks coming across as unprofessional if you try to argue from the position of what your time is worth ($1,000 or whatever) versus a realistic estimate of how much that work is worth to the next person they hire. Unfortunately, particularly early in the project, the two numbers can be pretty far apart.
posted by iminurmefi at 9:15 AM on March 27, 2009
Best answer: Here are two sentences about their emotional state. They are volunteers donating their time and they put a bunch of it into trying to do this project for free themselves, and then into getting the funds to hire (pay!) someone, and then into the hiring process. From their point of view, their work should be done, you should be so grateful, and the project should be being whisked away into "let the professionals handle it" utopia.
That said, I completely sympathize with you on this, having worked with community groups -- great people, but it was really hard trying to get something done with people who weren't treating a project like work. I do wonder if working more closely with your contact about a way to withdraw wouldn't have prevented some of these difficulties and whether you shouldn't have put a line to formalize your feelings about the timeline into the contract ("if the project goes off this schedule due to committee member delays, it will not be completed" or something). But I know how it is.
posted by salvia at 9:51 AM on March 27, 2009
That said, I completely sympathize with you on this, having worked with community groups -- great people, but it was really hard trying to get something done with people who weren't treating a project like work. I do wonder if working more closely with your contact about a way to withdraw wouldn't have prevented some of these difficulties and whether you shouldn't have put a line to formalize your feelings about the timeline into the contract ("if the project goes off this schedule due to committee member delays, it will not be completed" or something). But I know how it is.
posted by salvia at 9:51 AM on March 27, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by shownomercy at 4:29 PM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]