Have You Been Missing Emails Lately?
Read more articles on Computers and Let Me Share With You.November 26, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
November 26, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
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It’s enough to strike terror into the heart of anyone who uses the computer for employment: the knowledge that emails haven’t made it through the internet maze. Let me tell you, very few things can make a person feel more defenseless and vulnerable. Even horrendous illnesses and injuries have some kind of explanation and treatment. But when you don’t get emails, there is no way to find out what’s happening, and no one to ask.
I was surprised to get an email from an art gallery client, stating that I’d failed to meet a due date. I don’t allow that to happen, so I immediately mailed back. My contact said she had sent a request that was now late. Since I never received it in the first place, we made an agreement that I would verify every future order with an email, and without this acknowledgement, she needed to resend the job.
Well, the next month, I completed another job for the client’s new rep, but two weeks later, received an email saying that since requested revisions were never done, I would not be paid.
What?! What revision request? I never received either of their 2 emails asking for minor changes! Not only did I lose out on at least 5 hours of work, my reputation was now irreparably damaged in this client’s eyes…With a hundred freelance writers clamoring for every offer, it’s difficult to be hired and easy to be replaced when this happens.
The real kicker is, even though every other job was done well before the due date (and several referred to as “excellent”) it meant nothing to the new client rep, with whom I had no history. I did email to explain that I did not receive her requests, but she never wrote back. I guess she has no time or energy to deal with someone whose email is kaflooey, or thinks that I’m an undependable flake.
The whole issue really upsets me because I absolutely loved working for this company. I could get no answers from Yahoo except that perhaps messages are being diverted to bulk-which I’d set on instant deletion. So, since I’d no idea how long this had been going on, and how many other emails never made it to me over the last year, I started checking every piece of bulk mail. Talk about a miserable experience…that lasted a week, when I couldn’t stand it any longer.
If my emails have been disappearing into the nether-zone, I guess there must be some higher reason and I should just let it go. But it’s annoying to think that responses from job ads may be dissolving into world wide web-waste. It’s also scary how helpless we are.
So, two things, my friends-if you’re using the computer for work, get into the habit of verifying all work with clients so they know something is wrong when they don’t hear back from you. And second, if you have sent me an email that went answered, try again.
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