Poll: Should a freelancer observe their local holidays?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Dec 2, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Should a freelancer observe their local holidays?".

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Samantha Payn
Samantha Payn  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:44
Member (2008)
Russian to English
+ ...
It depends on the freelancer's own choice. Dec 2, 2017

Surely it depends on the freelancer's choice? I often choose to work weekends and public holidays because it suits me to arrange my time off according to my wishes. So sometimes I'll work a weekend, and sometimes I'll take a long weekend, or days off during the week.

 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 17:44
French to English
there's no should in freelancing. Dec 2, 2017

Surely the whole point of freelancing is that you're free to decide when and what?

Like, I don't have to agonise over whether to struggle into the office when I'm not feeling very well.
I might just take time in the week to do some shopping while the shops are relatively empty, then catch up on a translation at the weekend. Same goes for holidays: I delivered an urgent job to a client on 1 Nov this year, at no extra charge because they pay my best rate anyway. I got the job d
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Surely the whole point of freelancing is that you're free to decide when and what?

Like, I don't have to agonise over whether to struggle into the office when I'm not feeling very well.
I might just take time in the week to do some shopping while the shops are relatively empty, then catch up on a translation at the weekend. Same goes for holidays: I delivered an urgent job to a client on 1 Nov this year, at no extra charge because they pay my best rate anyway. I got the job done before my partner even got out of bed, as often when I work weekends, so it's not like my private life even suffers either.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 16:44
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Dec 2, 2017

It’s my choice (depends on my workload)! Sometimes I do observe local holidays, others I don’t: we had a holiday yesterday but I worked all day…

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:44
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
The whole point in being a freelancer... Dec 2, 2017

...is being free to decide how to use one's time. The freelancer decides; not the client, not the banks, not the local government.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 17:44
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Dec 2, 2017

There are so many holidays here in Spain that I'd never get any work done! In fact, there's one coming up next Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure I'd rather be working. I'll be taking some time off next September if all goes according to plan. Other than that, I'll decide when I want to work or not, thanks very much.

 
Elena and David Dickens
Elena and David Dickens
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:44
Member (2016)
English to Italian
+ ...
I completely agree Dec 2, 2017

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

...is being free to decide how to use one's time. The freelancer decides; not the client, not the banks, not the local government.


 
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
India
Local time: 22:14
English to Tamil
+ ...
I too agree... Dec 2, 2017

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

...is being free to decide how to use one's time. The freelancer decides; not the client, not the banks, not the local government.


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:44
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Freelancing shoulds Dec 2, 2017

We should do a good, professional job, within the agreed time and cost constraints. We should pay our taxes if we want to be good citizens - but some freelancers may see that differently.

After that we should be free to run our businesses the way we see fit.


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 17:44
English to Italian
other Dec 2, 2017

everybody can choose how to schedule work, holidays, days off, mornings off, ....

 
Hedwig Spitzer (X)
Hedwig Spitzer (X)  Identity Verified
Peru
French to Spanish
+ ...
That's exactly the point Dec 2, 2017

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

...is being free to decide how to use one's time. The freelancer decides; not the client, not the banks, not the local government.


 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 17:44
Member (2006)
German to English
That is the way I consider it Dec 3, 2017

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

...is being free to decide how to use one's time. The freelancer decides; not the client, not the banks, not the local government.


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 13:44
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Dec 5, 2017

This type of question keeps coming up in the polls. We shouldn't be looking for excuses not to work. If a holiday in my country is not a holiday in my client's country, it's a very negative thing to say "hey, no, it's a holiday for me so I can't take this job because I'm not working today.
Of course you can choose what to do with your own time, but you can do that on any day, not necessarily because it's a holiday. And what you tell the client is "I'm overloaded today, sorry".
I wil
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This type of question keeps coming up in the polls. We shouldn't be looking for excuses not to work. If a holiday in my country is not a holiday in my client's country, it's a very negative thing to say "hey, no, it's a holiday for me so I can't take this job because I'm not working today.
Of course you can choose what to do with your own time, but you can do that on any day, not necessarily because it's a holiday. And what you tell the client is "I'm overloaded today, sorry".
I will not allow my regular clients to send a job that was for me to my competitors. That wouldn't be very smart.
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Poll: Should a freelancer observe their local holidays?






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