Why do clients ask stupid questions.

[#1]

Hi, Coffeebreakers. I just had another client ask, :"what's your favorite movie?" Why do they ask these questions???? What purpose does it serve. It really drives me crazy. How do you guys answer?

[#2]

Exactly. It's like a trap.

[#3]

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I think that's the main reason I keep flunking this question.  I think of what an imposition it is to be limited to just one favourite and I end up watching one instead of applying as an act of rebellion.

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 Let's give an honest reply: "I don't have one favourite movie, but many..." and continue with a long list, explaining each of our choices.

That might  not get us the job but it might discourage the client from ever asking that question again.

[#4]

Actually, Virginia, your question has really got me thinking. I deal with people every day who have to respond to things they consider stupid questions. A case in point is a guy I worked with a few months ago. He's kind of an unassuming guy who just wants to continue his education so he can become a researcher. He needed to apply for scholarships and some of the applications involved what he called "annoying college-application-like essays," which most often involve answering annoying college-application-like essay prompts (high-level stupid questions that admissions officers at places like Stanford dream up to filter applicants). My client's goals could pretty much be summed up as follows: "I'm a genius-level mathematical modeling scholar and my dream is to become a researcher. Can you please give me money to continue my education?" So despite doing stuff like taking PhD-level mathematical modeling courses during his undergrad, he still had to respond to a few of the more annoyingly creative application essay questions that admissions officers love to dream up. 

So I'm just going to offer you a link to one of my all-time favourite responses to this type of question.  I think it's a good reminder that you can always opt for a non-standard approach to answering to make things more interesting. 🙂

http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/joke/essay.htm

[#5]

What we need to do is to club together and vote for a committee to provide stock answers to stock questions, however stupid - a sort of "Stupid question union". So starting with, let's say, "What is your favorite movie - or "favourite film" depending on which side of the Atlantic one is on, we should all cast a vote for the worst film/movie ever made and then universally opt for this answer.

Or, the general response when heading our proposals with "Purple cow". would be, "What's wrong with red cows? Your post is discriminatory." 

Just a thought . . .

[#6]

Those responses are hysterical. Maybe you shouldn't have posted them, because if I'm in the right (or wrong) mood, I just might use one of them! Merry Christmas.

[#7]

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@Virginia F wrote:

Those responses are hysterical. Maybe you shouldn't have posted them, because if I'm in the right (or wrong) mood, I just might use one of them! Merry Christmas.

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 Tell you what: next time you're asked about your favourite movie, just send the link to this thread.

[#8]

Yesterday, I was invited to a job that was closed about 20 minutes after it was posted - so I didn't get a chance to apply or decline.The actual job was for a 1500-word product description and one was required to bid $20 and below. 

I would have declined anyway as the client wanted a 500- word product comparison (products specified) in the proposal  to prove that one was a native English speaker. For this $20 job (max) there were other requirements: put 'onomatopoeia' at the top of the proposal and to answer three questions. What is the meaning of:

- beating around the bush

- biting more than you can chew

- jumping the gun

Apart from the fact that I do not include writing in my skills - or that I have set myself to "expert", which Upwork's algorithim has consistently refused to acknowledge, the proposal alone, would be worth over four times the offer.

I am so relieved my account has been set to private. I will no longer receive inappropriate, badly paid invitations and will no longer feel pressurized into answering them.  

[#9]

Maybe your reluctance to answer a simple question caused you not the get the job.  Who knows?

[#10]

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Edited out - Mike W clearly knows best.

[#11]

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@Nichola L wrote:

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Edited out - Mike W clearly knows best.

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There are many clients who think like Mike W. While they think they are  are very clever, merely asking the questions they do, prove they are not. Here is an example- 

A while ago a potential (offsite) client offered me a job writing some technical astronomy articles, but I had to complete a basic "test" first, the test being to -

Calculate the n-body problem (recalculate the orbits) of all of Jupiter's moons if the dwarf planet Pluto suddenly entered the Jovian system. 

This had to be done in two hours (which is possible with the use of a supercomputer) so since I did not have access to such a computer, I though I'd ask this fool for more information, such as a full description of the events that had caused Pluto to leave its orbit, the speed at which Pluto entered the Jovian system, and the Pluto-Jupiter distance at closest approach, among other variables, such as Pluto's proposed argument of periapsis (which is an orbital element). 

His response?

"What is this periapsis stuff? Maybe you can just leave it out". 

So, perhaps the client that needed the word "'onomatopoeia'" at the top of an application also does not know what it means, which if true, puts Mike W's comment to Nichola's post in some sort of perspective.   

[#12]

As Rene would say, "FRAK!"

Upwork just ate my lengthy response to Mike W's comment on Nichola's post. It was a good post too, is there a way to get it back? 

[#13]

Fished it out of spam, as requested, Reinier!

[#14]

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@Mike W wrote:

Maybe your reluctance to answer a simple question caused you not the get the job.  Who knows?

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 If the time needed to answer the questions and respond to the invite eats up more than 10% of the value of the job I decline. My time is more profitably spent earning money than answering stupid questions. The maximum time I would allocate to a $ 20 job invite would be 3 minutes.

[#15]

OK - I'm about to half eat my words. A very nice Elance client who has spent some time trying to find me here, has just explained. It is to filter out inappropriate proposals (see earlier posts by others). My client who did not put a stupid question, but a well-thought out way of separating wheat from chaff, said that it really worked as well as  providing him and his team with considerable amusement. So clients (or this one anyway), are entirely human.

However, he is an enlightened client (and has used his own method). There are other "clients" who use Upwork's choices, and  who think this is the way to go, without having the faintest idea how the answers to these questions can help them or their businesses.   

[#16]

Darn right, Petra. I just saw this article job that went on .... and on .... and on. Longer than the required article. Seriously?? I'm not reading 1000 words in order to write 500.

[#17]

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@Petra R wrote:

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@Mike W wrote:

Maybe your reluctance to answer a simple question caused you not the get the job.  Who knows?

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 If the time needed to answer the questions and respond to the invite eats up more than 10% of the value of the job I decline. My time is more profitably spent earning money than answering stupid questions. The maximum time I would allocate to a $ 20 job invite would be 3 minutes.

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 Excellent rule, except that 10% seems like a lot to me.

[#18]

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@Tiffany S wrote:

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@Petra R wrote:

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@Mike W wrote:

Maybe your reluctance to answer a simple question caused you not the get the job.  Who knows?

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 If the time needed to answer the questions and respond to the invite eats up more than 10% of the value of the job I decline. My time is more profitably spent earning money than answering stupid questions. The maximum time I would allocate to a $ 20 job invite would be 3 minutes.

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 Excellent rule, except that 10% seems like a lot to me.

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 Yeah, on normal sized jobs it is way too much, but on the tiny ones it sort of works. My application for a $ 5k+ contract took me less than 10 minutes last week (turned tracker off for one segment, that's why I know)

That did include getting coffee though.

[#19]

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@Mike W wrote:

Maybe your reluctance to answer a simple question caused you not the get the job.  Who knows?

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 But, isn't that exactly the point? The filter worked--the freelancer knows the client is likely not the type of person he/she wants to work with, and then the client confirms that by placing more value on the willingness to answer the question than other factors, and both are saved from what would have been a grating and unpleasant work experience.

[#20]

I've seen, "What's your Starbuck's drink of choice?"  Um, I prefer McDonald's coffee with a human hair and shot of vinegar.