I feel as if I'm being stalked

[kathy1010]

Happy New Years, Coffeebreakers! This may sound weird, but I've got this guy constantly, like weekly, messagering me, asking me to work. This is going on for 2 months. At first, I put him off because I was genuinely busy. Also, I don't really want to accept his type of assignment - I do cookbooks, but he want 150 recipes, and that's too much. I've tried to get rid of him politely. I know what I'm doing when I write, have 100% rating, but so do thousands on Upwork. I'm seriously not that special. Not sure why he keeps contacting me, but I'm getting uncomfortable. He seems nice and has never done anything inappropriate (except for calling me "dear"), but I'm still weirded out. Since so many people could do his cookbook, I don't understand this. Any ideas or advise. I don't want to hurt his feelings.

Is there a volunteer whom I could refer to him? Only half joking.

[e_luneborg]

I have never even boiled a potato, so not volunteering for any cookbook. Whenever it's my turn to fix dinner I order something. At some point in my life there was actually a take out place that used to call me whenever they were closing early, to let me know I had to get my food from somewhere else... (Pathetic, I know...)

Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to say. The whole "dear" thing is creapy. I have a client that does that. He's one of the people managing content and translations for one of the casinos I work for, and I think he might be indian or something. "Hi dear", Sure dear", "Thanks dear" and so on. He seems nice and all, but that part I just hate. For Scandinavians this is just weird.

One more digression. 

In Finnish the word for dear or loved one actually means "person I don't dislike as much as other people". Finnish is such a romantic language... 

[kathy1010]

Yea, the "dear" is creepy on any level. And could you order me a pizza with mushrooms and onions before they close .... It's funny they have YOU on speed dial instead of the other way around

Happy New Year to you.

[petra_r]

Just tell the "client" to kindly go away.

And you can always block him in messages!

[kathy1010]

Happy 2018. I forget how to block someone.

[petra_r · Accepted solution]

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@Virginia F wrote:

Happy 2018. I forget how to block someone.

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 Go to your Messages.

Click on the thread with the rogue non-client.

Click on the client's avatar

From the drop down menu. select "Block Rogue Client"

Done 🙂

Wishing you a happy 2018 with only lovely clients!

[kathy1010]

Thanks, Petra. Take care of those kittens.

[gilbert-phyllis]

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@Eve L wrote:

One more digression. 

In Finnish the word for dear or loved one actually means "person I don't dislike as much as other people". Finnish is such a romantic language... 

 This made my day! Please, what is the Finnish word?

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[sivavranagaro]

I would simply block him. 

[barada00]

I had a similar experience. He wasn't calling me dear though. A client was constantly inviting me for different jobs all of which I declined until one day I said whatever and accepted. I finished the job, got a 5 star feedback with a nice review and he never called me again. Once they get what they want there's nothing keeping them.

[wendy_writes]

Virginia, the use of "dear" seems to be a regional thing.  I know it can grate but it is the best way to go.  As for the pesky client - as others have said, just block the person.

[prestonhunter]

"Dear" may simply indicate an attempt to write properly.

When I was in elementary school, we were taught to begin every letter with "Dear". Followed by the name of the person we were writing to. If we didn't do that, we were marked down.

If a client is offering me money to work for her, I'll evaluate the offer based on the type of work she wants me to do and how much money she is willing to pay, among other significant aspects of the job. I can ignore quirks such as the use of "dear."

[kathy1010]

Yes. It's the "dear" that makes me unwilling to work for him. It's simply I don't want to do a cookbook with 200 recipes. Too many, and I have too many other clients. I've followed everyone's advice and blocked.

Thanks. And Happy New Year.

[kathy1010]

Darn. I meant. It's NOT the dear .....

[cupidmedia]

I have the same problem around the other way - a freelancer I hired for a small, one-off job when my regular translator for that language was temporarily unavailable is messaging me every week asking for more work... I just ignore them but I shoud probably block them too.

[tlsanders]

Jennifer, maybe you should lend the expertise you so often do in the forums and politely explain to the freelancer that the constant requests are unprofessional and likely harming his/her client relationships.

[cupidmedia]

That's a good idea Tiffany, I might do that.