Twice Bitten

Thrice shy? That lends an old adage useless, hee! The thing is, thus far, I haven't been technically scammed yet considering that there are thousands of online con artists out there. Of course, there had been an instance when a client failed to deliver on the agreed compensation. This client was local and very easy to hunt down, but since the agreed upon fee was minimal and I did get a byline, I let it pass and simply did not bother writing for him again. There was also another client who had to be repeatedly emailed to follow up on the invoices I had sent. He always paid up, but not before giving you a few tense days of wondering. Perhaps we can put it down to lack of organization, but it doesn't make the setup less unfair. I was always mindful of my deadlines and I expected him to be just as prompt with his payment. The delayed payment was getting routine with him and while I was willing to put up with the lateness if given a good reason, I didn't appreciate the lack of communication regarding this (this from the same person who nagged at you every hour to check your progress) or my having to behave like a bill collector because while bill collecting is perfectly decent, I was brought up to properly disguise any form of occupation with money (money, it is philistine! harhar!). While I knew the world to be imperfect, I also had more conscientious clients, so I severed association with that one. My most recent experience involved somebody I perceived to be ethical (no warning bells at all) and organized. My expectation was that it would be a good and lasting working relationship. However, around the time I had sent my first invoice, she ceased sending her team updates. I sent several follow-up emails, but never heard from her. The very day I said I was pulling out my articles and publishing them elsewhere, an email from her alleged colleague appeared in my inbox, explaining that she had been in an accident. I really thought it was something like that and since I can afford to wait for payment (I don't like it, but it does not compromise me or seriously inconvenience me, so I can be tolerant up to a point), I replied telling the colleague to ignore my previous email about sending my stuff elsewhere. I resent my payment request as he had instructed and haven't heard anything since. It's possible that there is a perfectly good explanation again, but being in a state of wondering is pretty stressful.