Show Me The Please and Thank You

I will do almost anything for anyone who says, ‘Please’, and ‘Thank You’. It is how I was raised. It is who I am. I actually value politeness to be as important as the compensation I receive from the job. In many cases throughout my life, I value politeness as one of the best forms of acknowledgments for my work. Moreover, it is one of the things I look for in a client.

I have noticed an increase in ads on the internet, which I can only classify as rude. They do not ask, but instead demand that the writer be nothing short of perfect, and then, by the way, they will own the copyright to the work after it is written. All this and they will pay the obscenely low price of $1-$5 per article and aren’t you lucky to get this work?

Thank you. However, no, thank you. I say this because I regard these ads as revealing to me the tenor of what our business relationship would be and I know at least one of us (me) would not be happy at all.

For a long time I was troubled by the attitude these ads evoked in me. Was I being too old-fashioned? Was it a new world with everything going so fast that I was mistaking mere abruptness for discourtesy? Then I remembered something a teacher once told me.
Courtesy (politeness) never goes out of style.

There it is boiled down to one sentence. I want my writing always to be the best that it is within my power to make it. I also want my client relationships to like that as well. In exchange for my writing, I want and need to get back a professional response in all my dealings with my clients. As I must understand their wants and needs, and even, their wariness if they have encountered someone prior me who did not deliver as promise, they must respect me and treat me as a professional.

I do feel for someone who has been burned before in trying to get a project outsourced. The tendency is to build a very definitive wall of expectations. In doing so, however, they create the opposite of what they are trying to attract. A wall is no bridge.

I encourage people to take the higher road when they encounter these ads. Do not write back and berate individuals who place these ads to get a clue. That only cements the mud holding their wall in place.

Instead I advocate not answering these ads – period. Do not encourage a give and take response with someone who as indicated via their own writing that they are not in a giving mood. Forget even that some of you do not mind writing articles for extremely low rates. Just remember that respect like courtesy never goes out of style. Self-respect is the key factor for determining successful relationships including business relationships.
It is then you will be paid what you are worth because the relationship with your client is worthwhile.