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Poll: Have you ever shouted at a client?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Nov 17, 2020

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever shouted at a client?".

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Donna Michelle Lim
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Yes, regularly Nov 17, 2020

But obviously not when they’re there.

And not as much as I shout at my computer. Or Google. Or the kids.

Translating is generally a very quiet and solitary occupation. Having a good loud sweary rant at incoming messages is what keeps me sane.


P.L.F. Persio
Jean Dimitriadis
Zibow Retailleau
Manuela Junghans
Clement Cheung
Catherine Shepherd
Philippe Etienne
 
P.L.F. Persio
P.L.F. Persio  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 09:35
Member (2010)
English to Italian
+ ...
No Nov 17, 2020

Being a passionate, impulsive, temperamental Southerner woman, I used to shout every single day, when I still lived in Italy and had all my clients there.
I soon learned though, that keeping my cool and saying (or writing) things such as You'll be hearing from my lawyer, I'm confident you're going to pay today, or else ... with an icy stare (or in a dry, matter-of-fact style), usually did the trick.

I'm much more relaxed now, in case you wonder. All my regular cl
... See more
Being a passionate, impulsive, temperamental Southerner woman, I used to shout every single day, when I still lived in Italy and had all my clients there.
I soon learned though, that keeping my cool and saying (or writing) things such as You'll be hearing from my lawyer, I'm confident you're going to pay today, or else ... with an icy stare (or in a dry, matter-of-fact style), usually did the trick.

I'm much more relaxed now, in case you wonder. All my regular clients are based outside the Old Country.
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expressisverbis
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Raghda ALGHAMDI
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 08:35
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Nov 17, 2020

I don’t shout at people, let alone at a client. The more upset I get about something, the more I tend to lower my voice and speak slowly and quietly. I may swear at my computer when it’s being unruly or even nag myself when I’m late or something goes wrong…

Liena Vijupe
expressisverbis
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Arjan van den Berg
Francesca Grandinetti
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:35
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Nov 17, 2020

First, shouting isn't my style, and second, I always treat my clients with respect. Anything else would be professional suicide.

Paul van Zijll
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Dan Lucas
Liena Vijupe
Giovana Zaltron
Aline Amorim
Md. Tanjimul Islam Jiban
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:35
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Lol. Nov 17, 2020

Sorry, but the title is humorous. No, I can express my disagreement (if any) in a professional manner. Most of my communication with clients is in writing. How do you shout then, eg. use caps, exclamation marks, something else? Or be just plain rude, but that’s not the same as shouting?

[Edited at 2020-11-17 10:06 GMT]


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Angie Garbarino
expressisverbis
ipv
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Christine Andersen
Carmen Valentin-Rodriguez
 
Sadek_A
Sadek_A  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:35
English to Arabic
+ ...
Does a client shouting at you count? Nov 17, 2020

A client came in while I was busy with several other clients, she insisted on not waiting her turn because she needed to go. So, she just handed over the marriage certificate, got the delivery time and went on her way.

When she came back to collect, the translation was ready except for her name and her husband's (they had to be an exact match of the ones on the visas). I told her everything was ready but I needed to see both their visas so I can extract the names. She started shouti
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A client came in while I was busy with several other clients, she insisted on not waiting her turn because she needed to go. So, she just handed over the marriage certificate, got the delivery time and went on her way.

When she came back to collect, the translation was ready except for her name and her husband's (they had to be an exact match of the ones on the visas). I told her everything was ready but I needed to see both their visas so I can extract the names. She started shouting and cursing; it turned out her smart cookie of a husband had actually fled the country and wasn't coming back (who would, right?)

In all honesty, I felt sorry for her, that's why I didn't take any action against her. But, I still feel bad about her whole attitude, starting with the insistence on not waiting the turn through to the curses
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Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 09:35
English to German
In memoriam
Yes, in text form Nov 17, 2020

I have to admit that I sometimes replied in ALL CAPS to clients. One thing that drives me particularly crazy is if I ask the client a question (like "Is backup a verb or a noun here?") and I get a useless reply (like "just a UI string"). One thing I'd like to hammer into the brains of my clients would be to answer questions as they are asked and not to try to be helpful by explaining something else. Of course, in most cases I am able to keep my countenance, at least I believe I have not scared a... See more
I have to admit that I sometimes replied in ALL CAPS to clients. One thing that drives me particularly crazy is if I ask the client a question (like "Is backup a verb or a noun here?") and I get a useless reply (like "just a UI string"). One thing I'd like to hammer into the brains of my clients would be to answer questions as they are asked and not to try to be helpful by explaining something else. Of course, in most cases I am able to keep my countenance, at least I believe I have not scared anyone away yet.Collapse


Angie Garbarino
Jan Truper
Christopher Schröder
Christiana Grunwald
Rabie El Magdouli
 
Bruno Pavesi
Bruno Pavesi  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 05:35
Member (2020)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I try to keep my cool Nov 17, 2020

Keeping my cool isn't as much of a hassle online. I worked in the restaurant industry for years, taking hits from customers is almost a job requirement. Eventually you just learn what people's buttons are and figure out how to navigate through the sometimes stormy waters of customer service haha.

But I will say, my daughter in need of a nap - asking me a thousand questions and trying to do everything I specifically told her not to all at once - is far, far worse.


Johannah Morrison
Mariana Borio
Zibow Retailleau
P.L.F. Persio
Christopher Schröder
 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:35
Member (2004)
English to Italian
yes... Nov 17, 2020

I'm Italian... we shout and argue a lot...

Elena Feriani
expressisverbis
P.L.F. Persio
Christopher Schröder
Mario Freitas
 
Johannah Morrison
Johannah Morrison  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:35
Member (2017)
Portuguese to English
+ ...
No, never Nov 17, 2020

But like Bruno, I have been shouted at plenty by irrational customers in my past roles as a barmaid, shop assistant, motel manager, etc. My way of dealing with this was to just stare at them blankly, let them finish their rant and then be ultra nice and polite to them. Quite often, they soon realised how silly they were being.

If I were a client, and found myself being shouted at by a translator whose professional services I was paying for - I know what I would do... and it would de
... See more
But like Bruno, I have been shouted at plenty by irrational customers in my past roles as a barmaid, shop assistant, motel manager, etc. My way of dealing with this was to just stare at them blankly, let them finish their rant and then be ultra nice and polite to them. Quite often, they soon realised how silly they were being.

If I were a client, and found myself being shouted at by a translator whose professional services I was paying for - I know what I would do... and it would definitely involve blacklisting them.
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Kaisa I
Zibow Retailleau
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
matt robinson
matt robinson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:35
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
No Nov 17, 2020

I have never been shouted at by a client either, or even received impolite emails. If I were to, that would almost certainly be the end of the business relationship.

expressisverbis
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Philip Lees
Muriel Vasconcellos
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
Jocelin Meunier
Jocelin Meunier  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:35
English to French
+ ...
Once Nov 17, 2020

In text form, when an agency announced that they were cutting rates by 70% to "increase productivity". If I could, I would have slapped them right through my sreen.

Christopher Schröder
expressisverbis
Zibow Retailleau
P.L.F. Persio
Marina Taffetani
Christiana Grunwald
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 08:35
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Nov 17, 2020

I don't like to be rude to anyone when most communication is done by email, let alone my clients.
Why would I shout at them? For a more serious problem?
Shouting doesn't solve any problems, it may even worsen them, and you can end up losing your clients.


matt robinson
Michael Harris
Christopher Schröder
Josephine Cassar
Muriel Vasconcellos
Mervyn Henderson (X)
marijaflora
 
Maria Silvestri
Maria Silvestri  Identity Verified
United States
Member (2010)
Italian to English
+ ...
All caps, all the way Nov 17, 2020

One of the things I like best about being a freelance translator is that 99% of my communication is via email, and on occasion, I do fire clients, mutually part ways, or I don't agree to work with them in the first place. The two reasons for this are unreasonable expectations, money, and sometimes the intersection of the two.

It's not a professional liability for me, because the relationship is just between me and the agency, I'm not doing B2C - and some of the things that agencies
... See more
One of the things I like best about being a freelance translator is that 99% of my communication is via email, and on occasion, I do fire clients, mutually part ways, or I don't agree to work with them in the first place. The two reasons for this are unreasonable expectations, money, and sometimes the intersection of the two.

It's not a professional liability for me, because the relationship is just between me and the agency, I'm not doing B2C - and some of the things that agencies try to pull need to be called out for the bs that it is. Recently, I replied with sarcasm to an agency, and they responded with enough information to make me aware that they probably had gotten shouted at somehow by another linguist - it was well deserved.
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Christopher Schröder
Christine Andersen
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
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Poll: Have you ever shouted at a client?






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