Poll: Have you ever received a gift or a bonus from a client?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jun 9, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever received a gift or a bonus from a client?".

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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:53
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not that I can remember... Jun 9, 2017

... though one of my clients took me out to lunch in a cafeteria a couple of times.

 
Toni Faisal
Toni Faisal  Identity Verified
Indonesia
Local time: 21:53
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Big project bonus Jun 9, 2017

One of my client from Australia ever gave me hundreds of dollars as my bonus because I finished their projects.

 
Alexandra Villeminey
Alexandra Villeminey  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:53
Member (2010)
Spanish to German
+ ...
Voted no but actually yes Jun 9, 2017

Once I completely messed up a project for a client where I used to work inhouse, still being a freelancer, and in return they got me flowers. This was actually very nice because I really felt very bad...

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:53
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes Jun 9, 2017

By the time I was working as a sworn translator, a Belgian lawyer for whom I had translated a huge adoption file offered me quite a magnificent bouquet of flowers (my daughters thought I had an admirer)...

 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 15:53
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Yes Jun 9, 2017

One international agency once awarded me USD100 for x-mas for good work during the past year.

Nice gesture!


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:53
English to Italian
yes Jun 9, 2017

a client used to call me every year for my birthday and she also used to send me a gift for Christmas.
R.I.P. CC


 
Platon Danilov
Platon Danilov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 16:53
English to Russian
+ ...
Yes Jun 9, 2017

Two cases in my practice so far, when a customer was willing to pay higher than we've initially agreed.

 
Daniel Gebauer
Daniel Gebauer  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:53
Member
Spanish to German
+ ...
Sixpacks of beer Jun 9, 2017

Last year I translated some tapas recipes for a Spanish brewery and surprise, surprise ... they sent 2 sixpacks of beer via the agency

 
Alexandra Speirs
Alexandra Speirs  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:53
Italian to English
+ ...
yes Jun 9, 2017

No cash, but small Christmas presents fron several customers.
One agency used to always send Christmas stuff - tea towels with Santa, tree decorations, etc. .... but in the end they went bust and never paid my last bill for over 800 euros .....
I have a couple of limited edition prints of paintings, one from a regular customer, the other given as payment for translating a book about the artist.
A big hotel gave me a huge glass dish which I gave my niece as a wedding present.<
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No cash, but small Christmas presents fron several customers.
One agency used to always send Christmas stuff - tea towels with Santa, tree decorations, etc. .... but in the end they went bust and never paid my last bill for over 800 euros .....
I have a couple of limited edition prints of paintings, one from a regular customer, the other given as payment for translating a book about the artist.
A big hotel gave me a huge glass dish which I gave my niece as a wedding present.
I've dropped hints with the people who send me translations about wine, but the customer doesn't even offer the agency any freebies....
Then flowers, chocolates, too many to mention, I've been in the business too long!
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Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:53
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but... Jun 9, 2017

One agency that I work for has a program whereby it offers translators who have earned set levels of income for projects during a calendar year the opportunity to select from a variety of different items (mostly either gift cards of various kinds or small electronics).

Through this program, I have selected gift cards of $100 (once) and $200 (twice).

I am grateful for the gifts. Unfortunately, the way this program is administered is so mechanical and impersonal that it u
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One agency that I work for has a program whereby it offers translators who have earned set levels of income for projects during a calendar year the opportunity to select from a variety of different items (mostly either gift cards of various kinds or small electronics).

Through this program, I have selected gift cards of $100 (once) and $200 (twice).

I am grateful for the gifts. Unfortunately, the way this program is administered is so mechanical and impersonal that it undermines the special recognition it purports to give. And there are also certain fundamental longstanding problems with this agency that make working with it difficult and unpleasant at times.

All in all, I would rather this agency clean up its act and be easier to work for and discontinue its gift program.

And just for the record, when this agency requested feedback from me as one of the recipients of its awards program, I offered a more detailed version of the above criticism.

[Edited at 2017-06-09 14:11 GMT]
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Alan Corbo, CT
Alan Corbo, CT  Identity Verified
Uruguay
Local time: 11:53
English to Spanish
+ ...
When both my daughters were born... Jun 9, 2017

An agency I've been working for for several years sent me a huge bouquet of flowers, each time.
I was speechless. The flowers came from the opposite side of the planet.
Can't get any better than that, I believe

Alan


 
Laureana Pavon
Laureana Pavon  Identity Verified
Uruguay
Local time: 11:53
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
+ ...

MODERATOR
Many, but one stands out Jun 9, 2017

When we brought our son home, one of my customers who lives in the US (I live in Uruguay, pretty far from Florida) sent me some hand-knit items (sweater, hats, blanket) his wife made especially for him.
That was the nicest thing EVER!


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:53
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes Jun 9, 2017

And this poll has been posted before, more than once.

 
Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:53
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Years ago ... Jun 10, 2017

... in my early days as a freelancer, some agencies used to send small presents at Christmas such as a diary, calendar or pen bearing their logo, and in one case a box of Belgian chocolates ... nice.
I was living in London back then and one of my nicest clients used to invite translators to a cheerful dinner in a restaurant off Regent Street, while another hosted a party for translators in its offices each year. Both those agencies have now been taken over by far less translator-friendly f
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... in my early days as a freelancer, some agencies used to send small presents at Christmas such as a diary, calendar or pen bearing their logo, and in one case a box of Belgian chocolates ... nice.
I was living in London back then and one of my nicest clients used to invite translators to a cheerful dinner in a restaurant off Regent Street, while another hosted a party for translators in its offices each year. Both those agencies have now been taken over by far less translator-friendly firms.
Austerity now seems to have put an end to such gift-giving frills.
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Poll: Have you ever received a gift or a bonus from a client?






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