Hello.
Not too long ago, I worked with this freelancer on a project. He completed it and I was fairly happy with the end result, but later decided not to continue the project for personal reasons. We parted on very good terms.
He messaged me a couple of weeks after completion of said project, at which point I explained to him very nicely that I had decided not to continue the project. I told him I would keep him in mind if anything new came up that matched his skills. He seemed to understand, thanked me, and I thought it all ended there.
Fast forward to yesterday (about 2 weeks after our last exchange) when he messaged me again out of the blue, seemingly just to chat. I have other projects going on Upwork, so I log in often, and the message came when I was online. I know it might have been a coincidence, but it felt stalkish especially since there was nothing left to discuss. I was nice with him but tried not to move the conversation forward and didn't ask him any questions. He continued to ask general questions like how I was doing, how was work etc. It felt very awkward and made me uncomfortable because I didn't know the purpose of all this. I explained to him again that the project he had worked on would not be continuing, which was awkward in itself to have to repeat. He seemed slightly offended and said that he was just asking me in general. The conversation ended shortly afterward. The whole thing was weird. I couldn't tell if he just had too much free time in his hands or if he was trying to fish for a new project (he never asked directly) or if he was even trying to make advances on me. All I know is that the exchange was uncomfortable as there was no purpose in it.
So I've been wondering: is it typical of Upwork freelancers to contact former employers out of the blue? Is this a way to try and fish for more work? And if so, how do people handle it? I am by nature nice to people, but this has me annoyed. To the point where I wouldn't give him more work now even if I did have something that matched his skills. It seriously felt stalkish, so I',d rather not have to talk to this person ever again. Anyone have similar experiences?
