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nahidrajbd
Community Member

What are things that people get wrong about your line of work?

I know there are lot of funny experience on this topics. I just want to know your story.

30 REPLIES 30
zohaumar
Community Member

Well, being a graphic designer, I frequently come across clients who ask for Microsoft Word files! There's nothing wrong in that, however, we don't design stuff on "MS WORD". Smiley Very Happy

 

On my initial days on Upwork, I was even rated bad because the client didn't have the software to open the raw files that they have asked for; which really infuriated me back then. They showed me a blank chrome screen with a message "The file has an error" lol. 

 

Secondly, some of my relatives think I design Billboards. Period. Nothing else. Smiley LOL

Many a times I need to count them the things a graphic designer generally can design, which undoubtedly is fun to do! 

Nevertheless, it's great to be doing what I do! 


@Zoha U wrote:

Well, being a graphic designer, I frequently come across clients who ask for Microsoft Word files! There's nothing wrong in that, however, we don't design stuff on "MS WORD". Smiley Very Happy

 

On my initial days on Upwork, I was even rated bad because the client didn't have the software to open the raw files that they have asked for; which really infuriated me back then. They showed me a blank chrome screen with a message "The file has an error" lol. 

 

Secondly, some of my relatives think I design Billboards. Period. Nothing else. Smiley LOL

Many a times I need to count them the things a graphic designer generally can design, which undoubtedly is fun to do! 

Nevertheless, it's great to be doing what I do! 


Zoha, I think your relatives would get along very well with a member of my husband's family who thought I was an interior designer for years (despite having told her many, many times that I'm a graphic designer). She now (kind of) understands what sort of work I do, but she cannot figure out how I do it online. She simply can't wrap her brain around the concept. I think she believes everything is done with pencils and paper. Then again, this is the same woman who once asked my mother in law which sort of internet she had. When my mother in law asked her to clarify because she thought perhaps it was a question about an ISP, the relative responded that my mother in law's internet must have a lot more stuff on it because she couldn't find anything interesting on "hers". The next question was how many Ws my mother in law's internet had in it. Was it "www" or more than that? 

Melissa that really made me laugh and reminded me of when I used to work as a webdesigner for an ISP, we once had a man come in with a floppy disc and ask if we could put the Internet on it so he could see if he liked it before he signed up. Then there was another chap who had a website designed, he complained that his photos 'weren't stuck down properly' after much confusion it turned out that he was referring to the drop shadow effect on the images! 


@Emily H wrote:

Melissa that really made me laugh and reminded me of when I used to work as a webdesigner for an ISP, we once had a man come in with a floppy disc and ask if we could put the Internet on it so he could see if he liked it before he signed up. Then there was another chap who had a website designed, he complained that his photos 'weren't stuck down properly' after much confusion it turned out that he was referring to the drop shadow effect on the images! 


Emily, I have no words. I'm laughing too hard. I love when people learn a new technology. I also love the ensuing giggles.  


Emily H wrote:

Then there was another chap who had a website designed, he complained that his photos 'weren't stuck down properly' after much confusion it turned out that he was referring to the drop shadow effect on the images! 


Pure gold Cat LOL

I am a graphics designer myself. I can relate myself with your reply. Yes this is very much common for designers. Sometimes client don't know how much effort it takes for a great design.

 

My relatives also thinks I design great great stuffs only and gets a loads of money for single design. Sometimes I get hilarious question from elders.

renata101
Community Member

I work as an editor. One of the things that people don't realize about what I do is that condensing documents is not necessarily easy and coming up with short, effective descriptions (especially for things like grant proposals)  is sometimes really hard work.  I think people assume that if there are fewer words, things should be easier (and of course much faster!). But coming up with a really good slogan, for instance, can sometimes take a long time because you have to consider your words very carefully. 

One of my clients recently sent me this Mark Twain quote, which describes things perfectly: 
"I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one instead."

Cheap clients who think that paralegals are "discount lawyers".  If I acted as an attorney, giving legal advice, etc., I would actually be breaking the law.  They just don't get it.

Clients who once you have edited their book, think for the same price you can do the whole publishing package and act as literary agent. 

 

ETA: And in the same vein, people (not necessarily clients), who think that proofreading comes before editing.

ETA: And in the same vein, people (not necessarily clients), who think that proofreading comes before editing.

 

THIS!!!!!


@Kat C wrote:

ETA: And in the same vein, people (not necessarily clients), who think that proofreading comes before editing.

 

THIS!!!!!


@Nichola and Kat

That one comes up so frequently that I have a standard line for it: Proofreading a document that needs copyediting is like trying to frost a cake that's still in the oven.

What is the difference between proofreading and editing?


Nahid H wrote:

What is the difference between proofreading and editing?


$$

 

But the longer answer is that proofreading is generally what you do on things you can read (small corrections) and editing is what you do on things you can't  (large surgical language interventions). 

Then you're either a bad editor or a really complete proofreader. In my
opinion it's the use of your red marker (proofreading) vs re-organizing all
text of a publication (editing)

How about people who think proofreading includes re-translating a very badly translated text for about 1/4th of the translation fee?

re: "They just don't get it."

 

Or maybe they do get it, but just don't care.

 

Maybe they don't feel like there is any risk to them in asking you for legal advice.

Melissa and Emily - thank you both for making me LOL a lot!  Your stories are priceless ... and def. cheered up my mood. 


@Wendy C wrote:

Melissa and Emily - thank you both for making me LOL a lot!  Your stories are priceless ... and def. cheered up my mood. 


 _____________________

I particularly liked Emily's floppy disk story! 😄

Renate, most of my documents are for business decision-makers. I'm still looking for people who can help me; they want to be paid by the word or page. A three-page document has far less value than a two-pager that accomplishes the same goal. Two paragraphs almost always beat two chapters. A frame of reference that measures value in impact and conciseness is foreign to the artikul ritters and by-the-page florists.

 

To the OP: The vast bulk of what I do is talking clients through issues. The typical reaction is summed up by one client's parting remark, "Thanks for the conversation." The greatest value I ever create is in identifying the real underlying issue, but those who are sure they have the right issue and the perfect solution see no value in that, just in executing their plans.

 

My hourly rate is too high, because I can get this done by someone in East Absurdia for $10. A client who hired me to fix a project and promised me ten percent of the savings refused to pay my bill. I cut a $12M project to $6M in three hours, but "Nobody's worth $200,000 an hour."

 

Then there are those who believe my expertise is in what I'm doing at the moment. I've been fixing and improving businesses for nearly fifty years, and have done almost everything. Many prospective clients remind me of the pet owner who takes his dog to a different veterinarian, because the first one only works with left front paws. On dogs. Female ones. Golden Retrievers.


Renata S wrote:

One of the things that people don't realize about what I do is that condensing documents is not necessarily easy and coming up with short, effective descriptions (especially for things like grant proposals)  is sometimes really hard work.  I think people assume that if there are fewer words, things should be easier (and of course much faster!). 


Ugh, same here -- I charge more for condensing/shortening texts because it takes me a really long time do.Worst is when the client casually mentions that I should cut the word count after we've already set the budget and they've hired me!

People who think a paralegal is a discount lawyer.  I can't practice law, I can't give legal advice, I am required to work under the direction of an attorney.  That's called the unlicensed practice of law and I refuse to get in trouble for it. 

 

Sadly, Upwork doesn't know the difference either.  I haven't sent a proposal for weeks because there are no appropriate jobs posted and every invitation I've gotten for months has involved giving legal advice. Sigh.


Isabelle Anne A wrote:

Renata S wrote:

One of the things that people don't realize about what I do is that condensing documents is not necessarily easy and coming up with short, effective descriptions (especially for things like grant proposals)  is sometimes really hard work.  I think people assume that if there are fewer words, things should be easier (and of course much faster!). 


Ugh, same here -- I charge more for condensing/shortening texts because it takes me a really long time do.Worst is when the client casually mentions that I should cut the word count after we've already set the budget and they've hired me!


This one is really hard to explain to people. I frequently work with science & tech articles, and clients often think that abstracts -- research summaries that are typically only a few hundred words long -- should be simple to write. In reality, summarizing research studies means that you need an intimate knowledge of both the discipline and the ideas guiding the research agenda. The abstracts are a often a distillation of quite a lot of information.  

Abstracts are also one of the places people tend to exceed word limits (especially for grant proposals). It's tough to explain that it might take me an hour to get one down to 200 words if I'm working with an idea that's complex to summarize. But there are often direct payoffs for doing it well. 

People who think writing is just typing. **Edited for Community Guidelines** who argue with you that a 500 word thing should take 20 minutes because...like you know.... you just have to copy paste words from the first article in Google and just rearrange them to make it pass copyscape. Passing copyscape means it's not plagiarized right?


**Edited for Community Guidelines** that hire cheap ESL writers from Fiverr only to have me "edit" it and get all butthurt that their $20 article cost them $300 for me to make an effort to understand what on earth is going on in that mess and rewrite it into something that isn't even that good based on the trash I had to go on. Woulda cost them like maybe $200 if they just had me write it.


Jennifer M wrote:

People who think writing is just typing. Morons who argue with you that a 500 word thing should take 20 minutes because...like you know.... you just have to copy paste words from the first article in Google and just rearrange them to make it pass copyscape. Passing copyscape means it's not plagiarized right?

 

Idiots that hire cheap ESL writers from Fiverr only to have me "edit" it and get all butthurt that their $20 article cost them $300 for me to make an effort to understand what on earth is going on in that mess and rewrite it into something that isn't even that good based on the trash I had to go on. Woulda cost them like maybe $200 if they just had me write it.


I just tell them I can make it pass copyscape no problem. What they're going to have to pay dearly for is humans being able to read it. 

sivavranagaro
Community Member

Expecting me to be online 24/7.

____________
Don't correct my grammar!

Since you are at home all day could you...

Ha Ha Ha! This happens to me every time. My parents and relatives think as you are sitting at home, please do that, do this.

 

I've spent a whole week at the hospital with my grand father. He has 2 other son, but no one came to visit, because they are working on their office and literally busy.

This. Family members who think greelancing means they have to keep me busy (shopping, cleaning, walking the dogs, etc.). I'll hapily do these things after my planned work. In the same line, friends thinking you can drink all day, hence showing up with sixpacks. Thanks guys, but I have four deadlines today...

But the thing is freelancers don't waste time on **Edited for community guidelines** social media's. I am from Bangladesh, I don't use facebook. It's like shocking issue that how come I don't use facebook.

 

Showing you off on **Edited for community guidelines** friends online can make you more dumb only. Read some books, blogs.


Nahid H wrote:

But the thing is freelancers don't waste time on **Edited for community guidelines** social media's. I am from Bangladesh, I don't use facebook. It's like shocking issue that how come I don't use facebook.

 

Showing you off on **Edited for community guidelines** friends online can make you more dumb only. Read some books, blogs.


Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are cancer. But I gotta tell you the outrage and drama on Twitter from blue checkmarks are a beautiful thing to watch. Yesterday, John Wayne was able to offend the blue checkmarks from beyond the grave and it was hilarious.

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