About 3 months ago I wrote a post about telecommuting for work. I got some great responses from people. Some wanted me to do a post about how much you should charge. Be patient that is coming up shortly. Others suggested FTP upload. Which is great if I’m working with small files or doing the entire project as an offline edit. But I’m not working with those kind of clients at the moment. By the way I’m ready for that kind of work.

In November, I met with a potential client that was looking to hire someone soon to help him with a cool broadcast program. He wanted to test me out. I said that I will purchase a hard drive and have it shipped to him, he load up the hard drive with the materials, mail it to me, I edit it and send him a link. Sounded like a good plan at the time.

He never sent me any files and he still has my hard drive. Needless to say he hired another person for the gig, which is fine with me just return my hard drive. When I found out about the hire I was cool about it and congratulated him on his show being picked up. I did mention how I was disappointed and wish he gave me a chance to prove to him that I could do what he needed. About the hard drive, he suggested two options. 1) pay for the hard drive or 2) send me back the hard drive.

I chose option 2. I’m working on Corporate Assassin, Z13, Dogs of Chinatown and many other freelance gigs. I can always use more hard drive space. I guess that inconvenienced him. That discussion was in the beginning of January. Since then I’ve emailed him a couple of times and called him a few times too. I was assured that he would send me the hard drive right away. I know this is about $125 dispute but for me it is more about principle.

Should I let it go? Hell no. I went out of my way to make things easier for him and all I get in return is bullshit. Now I’m upset and I wish he would go to the post office or call UPS and have them pick up the hard drive from his house and send it back to me. It would take a day to get to me. So I want him to know that I’m pissed off and there is no way I would ever want to work for him. Just another person manipulating the situation to better themselves and I want no part of it. I maintain a professional relationship with all my clients and always give them my best. When something like this happens it really makes me be more protective about my services and choose my clients more carefully. I wonder if I will see the hard drive after this gets delivered to his email box. He subscribes to this blog.

Did I shoot myself in the foot or was I right in writing this post. Please professionals I’d love to hear your comments.