RVing

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Waiting For the eCheque to Clear

This morning, I awoke at an odd hour for me, 5:45, and was debating whether to get up or go back to sleep when my cell phone rang. No need to answer, I knew who it was. I’m just glad I was already awake! I was surprised that the client called me and even more surprised by the deluge of emails from her that trickled in during the day. The woman is a nut case, plain and simple. I also firmly believe that she does not intend to pay her contractors unless they play hardball with her.

Like any bully, she made me out to be the bad guy, calling me dramatic and unreasonable, claiming that she never got the invoice from me. Later, she said she had an invoice but that it was not from a name she recognized. She was peddling really, really hard, the way someone does when they know they’ve been caught red-handed.

I pointed out these facts to her:

1) the invoice was from the PayPal address I had given her numerous times, so there was no reason for her to not recognize it;
2) I had signed a number of documents showing both my legal name and my in-use name, so there was no reason not to recognize that the invoice was from me;
3) the invoice clearly described the audio files by their file names, so there was no question of what it was for.

I got nearly a half dozen requests today to confirm that I am who I said I am in the invoice. I finally had enough and replied in all caps! Yes, I raised my voice!

I also told her:

1) that I’ve been in business for 15 years and have never had to send such a large number of emails regarding payment (at least four). All I wanted was confirmation that I was going to be paid and when. All she had to do was reply to one and say “I process my invoices on such and such a day” and I would have waited for that day before raising a ruckus;

2) that she screwed herself since I produce quality work on short notice and on time.

A PayPal eCheque just landed in my inbox, so I won’t know till late next week if this matter is resolved or not.

I do not regret my behaviour in this matter. I am convinced that had I not taken the action I did that I would have had no chance of being paid. At least, the odds are now 50/50. If she does not pay me, then I can claim this invoice amount on my taxes as a business loss .

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Alberta Monsoon Season

Rain: When the exterior of your rain gear gets wet.

Monsoon: When you take off your rain gear and your clothes, right down to your underwear, need to be wrung out.

Gah. What happened to the sun and heat we’ve had since I arrived in April?! I haven’t been this wet and miserable since Campbell River!

There is tons of extra flier work this week and, of course, it has to coincide with a cold and nasty weather. Doing fliers while sopping wet is not fun.

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Dealing With a Fraudulent Client

This week, I learned that I really need to spend more time on Google before accepting contracts. Usually, I’m very good at sniffing out the scams, but this person [redacted] got me by making me sign documents, contacting me by phone, appearing eager to pay me, and plying me with more work. Thankfully, I noticed that she ignored my requests for payment and refused to take on more work. Had I taken the time to Google her email address I would have found at least one person who claims she’s running a scam.

I really don’t expect to be paid for the work I did for this person/company this week, but I didn’t just take being defrauded sitting down.

I reported the email address to a number of companies, explaining how it was used to run a scam, which is a violation of any legitimate company’s TOS. These companies were:

-Gmail, the email provider;
-Dropbox, the service through which I was sent and received the digital files;
-Craiglist, the service through which the scam was advertised and responded to.

I have a name and a PO box mailing address, so my next step could be to contact authorities in that town and see what would be involved in filing charges. There might not be anywhere near enough to go on; the name and address could very well be fake.

The contract (which was very interesting) involved the transcription of an interview from a non-famous person involved in the sports and entertainment fields, so I suspect I have more than enough information to find out who is heading this project and and perhaps get some assistance at that end.

This person picked the wrong week to piss me off.

Updates:

Waiting for the eCheque to Clear

The eCheque Cleared!

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Umi Sushi Express, Lethbridge

I’m going to let you in on one of Rae’s secrets of life: food courts offer the best bang for the buck. You can get a full meal for under ten dollars and don’t even need to tip. The more you frequent food courts, the more you’ll know which chains are better than another, and how to avoid a nutritionally-void caloriefest.

So, I’ve been out for dinner twice since I got to Lethbridge and both times I ended up at Umi Sushi Express, in the food court of the Park Place Mall.

The first time, I went with a combination dynamite and California roll platter, simply because it had just come out of the kitchen, so I knew it’d be fresh. I paid somewhere around $8, which included extra ginger. The rolls were quite simply perfect; very fresh, flavourful, and with a good combination of textures.

Tonight, I ended up at Umi because I had to go downtown to deposit the cheque for the traffic counting job. I decided to try their $8 bento special and I was impressed by the number of choices I needed to make. It comes with rice, beef or chicken teriyaki, edamame or salad, four pieces of California or dynamite or tuna or cucumber roll, and either yam tempura fries or veggie tempura. I went with rice, chicken, edamame, four pieces dynamite (tempura shrimp, masago, cucumber) roll, and yam tempura fries.

After I placed my order, there was a very long wait that reassured me that my food was going to be fresh, not just reheated. When the meal came, I was astounded by the mountain of food. I would have paid $20, plus tip, easily in a sit-down restaurant! Well, in Canada. This price wouldn’t have surprised me in the US. 🙂

Everything was delicious. I particularly appreciated that the teriyaki chicken wasn’t overly sweet. I was a bit concerned that the yam fries were drizzled with a creamy pink sauce until I took a taste and realised it was chili mayonnaise. Not very Japanese, but the key ingredient to one of my favourite rolls (spicy tuna) so I couldn’t complain!

It has been a Day, so ending it with a yummy bento box for under ten bucks was most appreciated!

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Piecemeal Income

I still haven’t had any hits on a full-time job and time is running out to make ends meet for June. I’m grabbing every little contract I can.

Today, I’m spending about four hours counting cars for a traffic survey, from 7AM to 9AM and from 4PM to 6PM. The morning shift flew by! There was a lot of traffic so learning to use the counter device and coordinate my fingers kept my mind occupied. I hope to be more accurate this afternoon. The most important thing I learned is to not drink a giant coffee if you’re going to be sitting in a car for two hours. 🙂

I also have an extra day of flier delivery this week, so that will help the bottom line.

One thing I’m having to do this month that I hate is be very aggressive with my accounts receivable. I did a contract for someone who has tons more work for me, but she is ignoring every email where I ask about being paid for the first batch. Needless to say, I don’t have time to waste with someone who has no intention of paying me!

I still can’t believe I’ve been here almost eight weeks and haven’t had a nibble, not when I’ve been employed in much smaller markets in much less time!