Slashdot Mirror
Helping Your Ex-Employer?
ali_bubba asks: "A funny thing happened to me today, I have beeb unemployed for over 5 months, and all of a sudden my ex-Boss calls me and demands (well, it sounded like a demand) that I help her out, because her entire corporate LAN was down. Naturally, she knows that I'm kind person, but boy what attitude, so I did help her save the day. She did not even bother calling me back to thank me, (like if you get slapped, turn the other cheek, as Jesus once said) Has anyone else had this happen to them before? What actions did you take?" While I can understand that some people in this situation may harbor some ill will if place in this situation, it may behoove you to see this as an opportunity, and at the very least, an opportunity to make a little money off of your old company. It doesn't pay to burn bridges, especially if they need something that you can provide. For those who have been in this situation, how did you handle it? For others, if you were offered work from your old job, would you do it, and under what conditions would your perform said work?
ask for consulting fees.
-----
Score 3? For what? Being wrong, at length? - smirkleton
You didn't say if you billed them. YOu make it sound as if you did it gratis, free, no charge. That would be a big mistake. Otherwise of course you would do work for your old company if they're going to pay you. As with any contract work the fee charged has to make sense. It has to cover your expenses. Medical, transportation, other administrative overhead costs, the going rate for someone with your expertise. And there's no problem in charging a little more if you're familiar with their network. That's simply supply and demand. Work is work. And if you're currently not working any legal work is fair game. Right?
http://tinyurl.com/3t236
In any situation, no matter how well you document what you do, there are going to be a few things that are both specific to your particular setup and not something anyone else at the company knows. I suppose this would be less of a problem the larger your staff is, i.e. how many people there were doing the same job you were. In cases where this is an issue, I think it's pretty reasonable for your boss to call and ask questions, although I think it would be equally reasonable to not answer if you held a lot of enmety towards said boss. If you left on good terms (which it didn't sound like was the case in the post), then the friendly thing to do is give an answer. If they want you to come over and spend time on a problem, then by all means get paid, but if it's just a quick query, then helping them out seems reasonable.
Narrative
After three years of always having me to call on to take care of anything IT related, I think they have just gotten used to it.
The first time after I left (I actually quit, was not laid off) that I got the call, I think I handled it the best way possible.
You tell them 'I'd love to help you out. You know I am consulting on my own now, right?'
Explain to them that you are your own business. Find a price that is fair... not unreasonably high, but something that is in a solid ballpark. I settled on twice of what I made hourly for the company. When you consider that a:) you are now going to have to pay additional social security as an independant consultant and are having to pay the costs of your own benifits (health care, etc.), and b:) You don't have a full time job, so a little extra is worth having.
Good luck to you. Remember, you don't work for them anymore. Of course you don't want to mean or vicious to them (to burn your bridges), just be freindly and professional. If you feel that you have some personal obligation to help them out, remember that when they let you go, it was 'just business' to them. Treat them the same way.
Good luck
The Internet is generally stupid
Sounds like she is still blaming you for her network problems and expected you to solve it even though you aren't there anymore. Pretty ballsy... Also, you don't mention if you were laid off, fired or just quit. That information would contribute to the "how burned you just got" question.
I'm just wondering what can happen to a "good samaritan" in terms of liability. If you hadn't been able to fix the network, or if some malware (virus, trojan) shows up sometime in the near future, what's to stop them from coming after you with a team of attack lawyers? While it's unlikely, if somebody was willing to make a demand of you like that, I wouldn't be surprised if they were willing to play pass-the-buck if something unfortunate happens.
While I admire you for following your beliefs, I don't know that I would have done the same. Only if the livelihood of my friends at the company were jeopardized would I go for it -- or if the money was exceptional.
I had about the exact same thing happen to me. I was laid off from my job, and not a week later I had a call from my old boss demanding some information. I quietly replied that my consulting fees are $20 an hour and the clock was ticking. Luckily for him it was only a 2 min question (I don't bill for anything under 30 min). However, luckily for me I did answer his question because exactly one month later another department called me back to do some contract work. Like one comment I read it doesn't help to burn any bridges. Sometimes one just needs to swallow his/her pride. Oh and one note I was able to renew my contract and I am working from home. Oh my gosh you guys working from home is so sweet!
It's one thing to send out an email. It's another to have the guy come into the place and rebuild a server or something.
I was the leaded programmer and systems administrator, for a software company all our systems where Linux. I had tons of custom scripts to do backups, restores, replication and custom modified php, i added some functions directly to the php source code, so when a new person came in he found that just upgrading apache and php, didn't work :) . So they give me a call a few weeks after getting layed off. "None of our intranet software will run" we upgraded apache and php and it still doesn't work." I knew exactly what the problem was. I told them, I could have it running by the end of the day tomorrow. 'I thought I would let them sweat it alittle.' And I told them my consulting fee was $125 per hour with a 2 hour minimum. At the end of the day I walked away with a check for $500. I can't wait until they attempt to upgrade again.
Reading the replies here, I begin to see now why the tech bust hasn't been over long ago. If you let the company use you like a whore, you will be treated like the whore that you are and you shouldn't expect any better treatment. Unfortunately, the replies to this inquiry confirm that some people don't mind being scabs (i.e. temp workers brought in to obviate the need to hire workers full-time).
... then discover that they really do need somebody around to actually do the work (an indian, not a chief). And as for consulting, well, the fees are pretty stiff.
... "battered spouse" syndrome). Have a little self-respect, otherwise the tech industry will never develop into a profession, on a par with other engineers and architects.
Consulting is one thing, but I draw the line when the client is the company that layed me off in the first place
We made a ton of money back during the 90's. Use the freedom that that doe gives you to resist this kind of exploitation. I do.
Otherwise, it will just be more of the same old, same old. You can count on it. Stop being a whore and think like a responsible human being. Make the companies understand that there are consequences for their actions. That when they hire you, it is a partnership which requires some responsibility to you on their part.
Stop acting like a co-dependent spouse (you know
You broke one of the most important rules of employment. Never Work for free! Not only does it assign a zero value to your time, but it assignes a zero value to the time of anyone doing that task.
The second rule you broke, taking a lesson from M$ here, is that if they need you, you've got them exactly where you want the. Grease it up with vaseline and give it to them good and hard, to the tune of at least $100/ hour for skilled IT consulting
Many people have posted that, "You don't want to hurt your chance to use them as a reference." But then again, you don't want them letting your prospective employer that you're a cheap date either.
finally, for the question of returning to any employer as an employee (and not an independant consultant). Remeber this adage... Old Jobs are like old girlfriends, Never go back
I know as denizens of Western civilization (especially the U.S.), our first reaction is
...
... the golden goose lesson) ... and then were hired as outside consultants later. They ended up making a lot more money as a consultant than as an employee (for the same basic work). One is even getting frequent inquiries by the client about possibly joining them full-time.
... but don't scalp them ... fair market wage.
...
[1] Sue them!
and then
[2] How much can I get?
But I think it pays to think about your situation first. There may be some dynamics you might otherwise overlook.
Case A: Laid Off, Unemployed
If you're having problems finding a job, it may pay not to incite your former boss. You never know when your old firm may get a large project and decide to bring aboard some consultants.
While it hasn't happened to me, I have friends who were laid off, provided some occasional support at reasonable rates (this is *key*
Case B: Laid off, Employed Now
You have some incentive to maintain cordial ties with your old firm. But the incentives are definitely reduced by having current employment. If you hated your old firm and want to maintain loyalty with your current one, I'd just pass or agree under some pretty restrictive terms (i.e. define the total # of hours and compensation). Consulting money is nice but, clearly, your long term prospects are not tied with your old firm, better to focus on your current firm.
Case C: Quit
If you were the one who quit the job, I'd consider providing some support especially if you either [1] really left the firm holding the bag or [2] still have friends at the firm who would otherwise suffer. But make sure to get paid
You'd be surprised how this type of action can result in good karma. I had a friend who quit his job for a higher paying position at a high profile company. Unfortunately, lay-offs happened and, as a high-salary newbie, he was one of the first to go. His boss at the old firm - he couldn't rehire my friend - went out of his way to call a few of his competitors to recommend my friend - he did this primarily because he appreciated how my friend provided support (many times for gratis) for several months after he left. My friend got a job based on one of these recommendation.
Case D: Fired
No way in hell. Or make sure it's enough to pay for your big screen plasma TV, your sizable tab at the local watering hole, and possibly a year's rent
As Cliff stated, you don't want to burn any bridges. Even those that you desperately want to burn, should be maintained. You never know who or when you will need someone in your future.
At the same time do not let anyone take advantage of you. You said that this was a former employer. This immediately releases you of ANY responsibility or obligation to them, you don't work for them anymore!
This could be a slightly grey area if you had recently, within a couple of weeks, left the job on your own accord and the failed system was your responsibility. But, even here there is no REAL responsibility, simply a matter of your own moral feelings on the matter. But, you stated that this emplyer became former 5 months ago. No matter what the reason for your departure there is absolutely positively no obligation on your part after this period of time.
The next time you are presented with this situation, stop for a moment and think. First what are your feelings? Simply, do you want to do it or not? Secondly, review your current situation. Are you working somewhere else and are really to busy to spare the time or perhaps it may be a conflict of interest if you are working for a competitor now. In your case, you stated that you are unemployed so these would not be a problem here. You have time and there are no conflicts.
So, having decided that you can do it and that you want to do it, the next step is to specify the terms of a short term contract. Yes, contract. Even if it is only verbal you are still entering into a contract with this company. You need to come to an agreement on the type and amount of reimbursement for your time. You also need to agree to a set of milestones, if you will, that will be used to determine the successful completion of the contract.
For example, the situation that you related should have gone like this... Yes Jane, I am confident that I can resolve your problem. As it happens I am available to do consulting work of this kind, right now. My fee is $100 per hour for this type of work and I do charge travel time at that rate.
Janes response will likely be: "Wow, I don't want to pay that much." To which you should reply: "I certainly understand that but, that is a competitive rate in the industry and it is what I charge. I suspect from what you have told me so far that it might take 6 hours to fix your problem." At that point she will either say flat out no, and move on to another consultant, or she will say that she has to get back to you. This will give her time to get approval for the expenditure and also get estimates from other consultants. If she calls back make sure that she is in agreement to pay you for fixing the problem and that she fully expects to pay at LEAST $600.
Of course, Jane might decide to try to bully you when you advise her of your rate. She might say something like: "What?? $100 an hour?? No way. You built this system and it has never be right! It's your responsibility and I expect you to fix it immediately! I'm not paying you to fix your own mistakes. In fact, if you don't fix it, we will probably sue you!"
Your response to this should be: "I understand that you feel it is my responsibility, Jane. However, I do not work for you anymore therefore, it is NOT my responsibility. I'm sorry that you feel that I did not build the system properly however, the fact that it has worked for several months without me suggests that it was in fact, working properly. Even so, it is still not my responsibility anymore. But, I would be glad to look at it for you, as a consultant.
Finally, if Jane says that they are going to sue you, end the discussioin right then and there. Say: "I am afraid that, under the circumstances, I will not be able to assist you with your problem. I wish you the best of luck with it. Thank you for calling." click.... Naturally, this assumes that you do indeed not have any contractual liability to the problem. In your specific case, after 5 months, you didn't.
I've seen the posts saying 'invoice them.' Don't. Invoicing them at some rate you dreamt up and to which they did not agree is simply unprofessional. If you want some compensation for this, I suggest that you contact your ex-boss, for whom you did this favor, and ask her for a letter of recommendation.
Should this happen again in the future, express your gratitude for being offered the work and then politely inform them of your rate (or a flat fee). Spell out any minimums (e.g., 4 or 8 hour minimum), whether the billing starts from the time you begin work or if it is portal-to-portal (i.e., includes travel time), and payment schedule (e.g., downpayments, terms -- like net 30, payment in advance, etc.). If they balk at reasonable terms, then be polite but firm and tell them that you cannot accept the work.
If you do your ex-employer a favor, then you should make sure that it was you that decided to. I have, on occasion, sent ex-employers e-mails warning them of bugs and product updates for systems that I set up while under their employ. I don't expect to be paid for that in anything other than good will.
like if you get slapped, turn the other cheek, as Jesus once said
Jesus's situation would have been more analogous if Pontius Pilate had demanded that Jesus do unpaid work for him after the crucifixion. Besides, Jesus was not always in fear of losing his job to a cut-rate, H1-B messiah brought in from some third-world country. He'd have gotten pretty tired of being slapped around had he been in the computer industry.
There's no benefit in burning bridges unnecessarily, but there's also no benefit in doing work for an ex-employer gratis. Not only do you (obviously) not get paid for your trouble, but you now have a "sucker" sticker on your head. They'll call again, and you'll probably help them again. For nothing.
It's quite frankly outrageous that an ex-employer would call you up and demand that you do work for her. At the very least this shows a serious lack of professionalism on the part of your former employer. Perhaps it's best that you're no longer working for her anymore after all.
If an ex-employer calls you up and asks you to do some work (that is not explicitly included as part of an exit package), then you tell them you are more than happy to do it ... and your hourly rate.
You can't change the past. But you can draw a line in a non-confrontational way, where you define your future relationship...
,
Dear
Glad I could help out with . As I have demonstrated in the past, I enjoy the opportunity to solve problems and assist in any way possible.
In the event you require additional assistance, I have attached my standard price schedule. I'd be happy to discuss discounts for extended work, or on-call or after hours rates.
I look forward to working with you again in the future.
Sincerely,
ALso, a minimum number of hours is also worth it. Min 3 is fair for most tasks like KIA server. Min 2 or even 1 if the task is pidly and you want to make the point. Also make it know that your charging system works like the telephone company's long distance system, only you count by hours and not minutes. Ie, you round up to the next hour regardless if you work 5 or 45 minutes into an next hour.
You should have all this stuff typed up in a contract and have it signed by the boss (no one else!) as soon as you get onsite. Without it, don't do any work. Also don't negotiate. That's the contract, take it or leave it. You need to have legalease wording that absolves you of all responsibility if the system breaks again after you leave. You need to make it clear that you can't be sued after the fact. I travel is required, include a blurb about mileage and the rate. Include text that says what will happen if they fail to pay by 30 days after service is rendered. Also say that failing to pay also includes a bad check.
Carry a carbon copy ticket book with you. As you work on different systems, write out what the system is and why you're doing it on the carbon form. Write down every system you have to touch and the major points of what you do to each. "Had to reboot border router." "Had to kick the DNS box in the nads". Before you leave have the boss (no one else!) sign the each carbon page (if you had to use multiple pages) and give them one set of the carbons and file away the others. This way you can show exactly what systems you touched. If their NT box breaks later and you didn't touch it, they can't blame you for it. It's also very wise to record all tty output (commands, stdout, etc). If you have a laptop with a CDR in it, burn two copies to disk. Both you and the boss should sign both. Give them one. Don't let them leave you alone at any point and time during the onsite visit. If you aren't alone, they can't claim you stole backup tapes from the locker or pissed under the raised floor.
Write every password they gave you on the carbon mentioned above. Include in your contract that they are responsible for changing every password they gave you after you leave. Also include that you are absolved from any future damages coming from said systems where the passwords weren't changed. Writing it on the carbon emphasizes this.
It's important to make sure the signatures are from a person at the company authorized to pay you. Odds are you old super isn't authorized to make such payment. The director of the dept is usually the person that can do such things. They could potentially claim that the person that signed the contract wasn't authorized to make such agreements. Don't give them a way out like that.
It wouldn't hurt to use a tape recorder for all verbal conversations and make that something else they agree to in the contract.
Have the contract say something about parking (if parking garage fees are incurred or if a certain parking permit is required for parking (tickets or towing are the penalty).
All these are just some of the ways you could potentially get screwed. It's better to take precautions beforehand than post mortem.
I had a situation where I was working on some horrible QuickBasic code for a POS( Piece of Shit/Point of Sale both!) system. At the time I started the job I was young, stupid and politically inept. As a result, I lost my job later due to some moves that were a result of my lack of politicking. I was correct, technically, but people don't respond well to "You're an idiot and here's how I can make you not an idiot."
Flash forward about 3 years. The main developer on the project has become extremely burned out, the company has been sold and is moving to Phoenix (where I moved to shortly after this disaster) and they're asking him to continue working on the code. This is 2000 or 2001 if memory serves...
He refuses and states that there are two people in the US - himself and me - that can maintain the code.
A little background on the "system" is probably in order before I go on. It's QuickBasic (still!) running on DOS and coded so that nothing but old Lantastic NE2000-coax cards will work. The company did not want to pay a $15 per seat license for a DOS WinSock to communicate with the NT server on site, so he had to write a TCP stack. Oh, the workstations are all diskless, too, so BOOTP had to be written in.
Add to this the fact that the original software was still in use and was written by RPG programmers who wanted to learn to program on PC's. The typical methodology in the program was to call a subroutine, use a
statement to jump to some other portion of the program and then use a to jump back to the line following the original subroutine call. Needless to say, the stack was totally hosed after a few minutes of running this type of code.We couldn't rewrite the code because "it would be a waste of money" so we had to do neat things like write assembly code to give us a clean stack frame and put the old one back when we're done, shove it into a string and call it from within the subroutine. The really nice thing about this is that when you change the code or order of subroutines, you need to rewrite the assembly.
So, about 6 months to a year ago, the company calls me to ask if I'd be interested in working on their POS system. They're willing to offer me a whopping $15 an hour to work on it, too! I politely explain that, while I'd be interested in doing the work, an unsupported language on an operating system that you can't buy any more does nothing to further my skills. Furthermore, since I knew the state of the code and that they'd had other people working on it, there was no garuntee that I'd be able to do what they wanted. I wrapped up by explaining that, in order to guard against the potential damage of working on something that is useless in the industry, I'd have to charge $500 an hour with a minimum of 4 weeks (160 hours) billing. Payable in advance, of course.
We negotiated for a while and I did the work, getting my check up front.
When somebody wants something and you appear to be the only one who can deliver, explain that it's simply "a business decision" and take them for everything you possibly can.
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
don't blink next time, buddy
don't blink.
Those who give up their power willingly deserve none.
Because if he had been on payroll all this time, the LAN would never have gone down this way in the first place. When you shitcan someone, you're saying that you can get by without their services (and availability thereof). If you discover you were wrong, you'd better be ready to pay for it.
"You're never ready, just less unprepared."
Everyone is screaming "SEND THEM A BILL!!". While that's appropiate in some cases, it's not always. If it's a small matter (e.g., like 15 minutes) every once in a blue moon, what's the big deal. Just help them out.
;-) is important part of building a career. Former employeers and coworkers are key in that. Getting a recommendation from a former employeer, one who'd say they'd hire you again, is a strong testmentant to your abilities and attitude; one that will mean a lot to future employeers. So building good will with people, etc. is not only nice, but smart as well.
Remember building a network (the people kind, not the OSI 7 layer kind
At the same time, there's a balance. If it's bigger than that, something requiring you to go in for a couple hours, then sure, ask for compenstation [1]. Almost anyone in the buisness world will realize you're doing more than a trival amount of work & be willing to pay you for your time.
-Bill
[1] IMPORTANT: work out the arrangement (which you will charge, roughly how long, etc.) *beforehand*. That will make it a lot easier on you both.
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
Like you did. It often pays to keep connections alive, plus I'm a nice guy too. But if it went like it did for you, she wouldn't get a next time from me.
If she does call you again when she's in trouble, remind her that you already helped her once just to be nice, even though you didn't have to, and remind her that you didn't get so much as a thank-you out of it. So if she wants you to jump in and solve her problems again, she can cut a check for 8 hours consulting time at $80/hr and have it ready to hand to you when you walk in the door, otherwise you will turn around walk back out. If that's acceptable then head on over there and make some money. Otherwise tell her politely that she can call back if she changes her mind, and hang the hell up. Don't be smug, wordy or arrogant about it, just be direct.
That will settle the matter without burning any bridges, unless her ego is bigger than her business problems. Either you will be rid of her or you will make some money doing her a valuable service. Nothing wrong with that either way.
You got yourself in a bad spot now... Your ex-employer is soon going to start exploiting you, calling you for everything, and won't expect to pay you, however they for some reason will try to make you feel like you "owe" it to them... Basically, you're going to start being treated like an employee that doesn't get paid. Sound fun to you?
However, if you do demand money, I can guarantee they'll *not* pay you for as long as possible, or they'll try and give you "installments", where they make the first installment, and then never give you the rest. Knowing that you're unemployed and don't really have money for a lawyer, what do they care? Want to go to the labor board? Yeah, you'll get your check for $200 in a year or two (after they don't show up to any of the hearings). I've been burned far too many times by my ex-employer, and due to it I really don't trust anybody anymore, ESPECIALLY employers. Is this a bad thing though? No, I consider it me protecting myself.
When an ex-employer calls you for something and does not use the words "please," "thank," and "you" in every third sentence, blow him off. If an ex-employer wants work out of you, demand payment at a flat rate of at least $100/hour, and get an agreement in writing first. You are nobody's bitch unless you let yourself be.
I see people in IT caving in to employers all the time, and it disgusts me. Remember, you are there because THEY NEED YOU. Never take shit that you did not earn (But learn to take it well when you have it coming). Never, EVER, let an employer act like you owe him anything. The best way to get ahead in IT is to be an arrogant prick, because if you just do your job well and act like a drone, people will have no reason to notice you and will walk all over you. You are there because you are better than anyone else they could have doing that job, never forget it.
Malcom X once said "It takes a nation of millions to hold us back." IT people need to think about that philosophy more often, because people take advantage of us, ignore us, and dump shit on us left and right, and too many geeks just sit there and put up with it.
It's a simple rule, but it'll save you a lot of heartache. Simple answer is, if somebody asks you to do them a favor, and you choose to do it, expect NOTHING in return. Not gratitude, not recognition, not a job, not money. If those things turn up, great! And there's something to be said for good will. But if you don't get those things, you gave because you chose to. Maybe to remember that you're a generous person? Whatever your reasons are, they're your reasons. Corollary to this is if you're not prepared to give something in this manner (an unemployed person plying their trade for free sounds like an extemely "generous" act), then DON'T. You have a right to be compensated for your work. If this is something these people want, then, dammit, they must be willing to compensate you for it. Don't think you're "burning bridges" by asking for compensation. If you're dealing with the sort of people that expect you to work for free, you're not going to impress them by doing that. They will see you as their patsy (to use a nicer term). "Oooh I just want them to LIKE me." Does not garner respect.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
Perhaps I can help. I was a contractor for the last 5 years, and I saw so many tricks people used to get free work.
- her entire corporate LAN was down
Meaning: It's costing her company 1 day of their capital. Unemployment is costing you 5 months of your capital
- helped her save the day
Meaning: You helped her save her job, even though she mismanaged by removing a necessary support position.
- my ex-Boss calls me and demands that I help her out. Boy what attitude. She did not even bother calling me back to thank me
Meaning: She's unpleasant and not a friend. She's blaming you for the problem and you believe it's your fault.
- an opportunity to make a little money off of your old company
Meaning: It's wrong to get paid by a company?? What is the purpose of any business (including yours)? It doesn't sound like you hang out there for fun. There's nothing wrong about receiving some sort of pay for your work.
- It doesn't pay to burn bridges, especially if they need something that you can provide
Not so: Getting paid is not burning bridges. You want to be known for the quality of your work, not your charity. How about your bridges that she burned?
I could understand if the item that broke was covered under warranty by you. If they were a poor charity or she was friendly I might even do them a favor.
- she knows that I'm a kind person
Kind people don't complain about what they have decided to give away.
Successful people make a quick decision and stick with it. It would be wise to work on your bargaining.
And you'll have completely burnt your bridges with the company. This sounds like a pretty severe course of action, more like seeking revenge.
<simpsons>
Lenny: Nothing beats revenge for getting back at people.
Carl: I dunno; vengeance is pretty good too.
</simpsons>
It really depends on your relationship with the company, and whether you perhaps have an interest in doing any work for them in the future.
Considering that the poster is out of work, he may be better off to learn from this experience, and hope that his inadvertent generosity leads them to call him again when they have trouble, at which point he can negotiate a good fee, or maybe get his job back, if they need him so often.
Alternatively, if he needs the money, IANAL, but I think small claims court is a better way to go, rather than seeking the services of a collection agency. A small claims court will affirm (or deny) his legal right to payment for the services, and might get the company to pay any costs associated with bringing them to court. A collection agency would charge him, and it's hard to tack that cost onto your bill to the company, if it hasn't been agreed to beforehand.
So helping out the poor = kharmically the same as helping out your old employer.. (you know -- the guys who used to pay you... then probably dropped you on your ass in order to save costs) for free?
There are a lot of good deeds to be done in this wicked wicked world... that's not one of them.
Unless there are deep bonds of friendship in place, if a former employer needs my help, I'm going to charge them for it. And.. I'm going to charge them a *lot* more for it then I would have made if I was still working there. That isn't mean, cruel, or greedy. It just makes sense.
Evolution: love it or leave it
I just recently had something very similar happen to me. I had created a simple web site for somebody last spring, and included instructions to modify the files (he didn't want to pay me to update the site, but wanted me to teach him how to do it). I provided him with some basic ftp instructions, and told him to not modify parts between the symbols (php pages). Using proper HTML was up to him.
A few months later his host upgraded the server his site was on. I modified the templates for him at no charge - no need to burn bridges, and it was fairly easy for me to fix.
A few months after that, he tried updating the site and botched it - he did not download the files first, but instead used copies on his local machine already (downloaded before the server was upgraded). Once he started getting php error messages, he contacted me, accusing me of giving him bad instructions (actually, he said I "wrote the site incorrectly") and I need to fix it right away. Very demanding, very accusative, and unwilling to answer any questions. After a few messages full of him sidestepping my questions (presumably because he did not want to admit he didn't follow the instructions), I was able to figure out what happened, and told him that since he did not follow the instructions it was not my fault.
I told him I'd only charge for a half hour of work to fix it. I made the price low because I wasn't in need of the money - it was meant to get the point across that this work is above and beyond the original deal. The total cost to him would have been twenty-three dollars and fifty cents. He kept fighting me and insisting that he is not a moron. (his justification? "I'm the head of a marketing department." Oh, I'm sorry, you couldn't be a moron, then!)
After a week, I told him I would fix it on the condition that he never contact me again. I told him there was clearly nothing I could do to make him a satisfied customer short of doing everything for free. I told him I'd gladly lose twenty-three dollars just to never have to deal with him again. I told him I hoped the time he spent fighting me was worth no more than twenty-three dollars.
I don't regret burning that bridge. If the other party has no interest in reimbursing you for your work, then you're not really even buring a bridge - you're getting rid of excess baggage.
I really hate signatures, but go to my website.
Dang, this is exactly what happened to me last March when my former employer CEO called me up and asked that I do a little work for him in regards to the project that I had worked on formerly.
I was working for Maximum Charisma Studios in Denver Colorado. They released a product in 2001 that was poop and the company went chapter 7, fired all employees on the last week of January of 2001. Everyone was fired with dignity and the company went down with minimal looting and not a lot of hostility.
The company was trying to sell it's online multiplayer game product design and code to another company and so the product was still online and in collocation. Well, there was a bug that had been plaguing us that had not been fixed before everyone was fired.
Hey, this is going to turn into a Microsoft bashing story too! Cool.
The problem was that the software clients that ran on a bunch of Windows 2000 Servers would have problems forwarding or processing UDP packets after about 30 days. This was consistent on all of the servers. 30 days and the UDP would stop, the ports would get held hostage, and absolutely nothing would fix the problem beyond the typical Windows fix of rebooting.
30 days rolled around and the systems stopped working. They tried to reboot them, but there was a special procedure to getting it all to work, plus a very key system had died with a failed RAID controller, which made things worse. So, they called me and ask me to do the work.
There is a quote that I remember right here from Slashdot. It had to do with work/employee related stuff.
"Never consult for free."
I heard about the problem that they had, negotiated what exactly needed to be done, and said that I would do the work for $1,000.00 flat, and could have everything online within 48 hours. We did it respectfully and nobody lost their composure over the phone while I worked this deal out.
It went pretty good, I got my $1K cheque and it got cashed. I did the work and everything was online again. If they sold the product off or not, I don't recall.
The point is that I made my former employer understand that it did not pay my bills to work for free, and that if it was in our mutual interest to do business then we could, for a price which we agreed upon. Everyone was happy when we were done.
Now, if the former employer had been hostile from the start, I question if I would have taken the project on at all. And if I had, I would have made a written contract be signed prior to any work being done. And in the case of financial instability and the possibility of bankruptcy on their part and me not being able to collect on the work done, I would have required a deal that put the funds into special holding by a third party or something similar.
The problem is that the unhappy employer is probably going to do something bad to you. More is broken than they tell you and they are going to blame the broken on you and ask that you fix it for free or they will sue. They are going to try to make you feel guilty into helping them, they are going to do whatever it takes to get some work done by you for free.
Don't deal with bitter former employers or employees unless you absolutely have to, you are going to profit from it, and you make sure that it is going to turn out exactly how you think it will.
and tell him/her the person that called you can't do the job and is calling you for help.
Tell him/her you want her job, and can do it better(which is obvious since she called you).
It sounds like your being an ass, but lets look at it:
She is hurting the company by not knowing what she is doing, and by having an attitude. So if you are kind, shouldn't you imform the people who need the help that they are in trouble?
2)You need work,(I presume). She is calling you, demanding you take your time, and fix a screw up she is in. She is not the kind of employee that does a company any good.
3) she is hostile towards you. As a human being, you do not need to tolerate that, and since your kind, shouldn't you do your best to see that she doesn't treat other emplyees(or ex) that way?
Run your carrer like a business, because know one else out there has your interest, if they did, would you be un-employed?
If you don't want to do that, next time charge 250 dollars an hour. with a minimum hours of twice what you think it will take. I'm serious, if she needs you, you'll get it. espcially if you are saving her ass. It's not like it will come out of her money, just her budget.
As a human being, you do not need to take that kind of crap.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on