The Lingo24 ‘Above and Beyond the Call-of-duty’ (ABC) award

 
Lingo24 has taken on board all the feedback provided in this post and has decided to re-launch the award as the ‘Above and Beyond the Call-of-duty’ (ABC) award.

The award will take the form of a financial ‘prize’ and is designed to reward a translator for those occasions when they go that extra mile to get an urgent project completed on time; we feel it is important to stress the fact that Lingo24’s ABC award isn’t designed to be an incentive for translators.

It is meant more as a reward; a show of appreciation from Lingo24 – and the client – that by going ‘Above and Beyond the Call-of-duty’ on the odd occasion to meet a particularly tight deadline, then everybody’s job has been made a whole lot easier.

We would like to thank everybody who participated in this post for their valuable feedback and we hope that the initial misunderstanding has been clarified. 

Love your language!

Hi Carmen,

I have deleted your Post #162248 in the Announcements forum as it is identical to the one above. No need to post the same information twice.

Originally written by Carmen Manetoiu on November 19, 2008 10:36 AM The Lingo24 ‘Above and Beyond the Call-of-duty’ (ABC) award The award will take the form of a financial ‘prize’ and is designed to reward a translator for those occasions when they go that extra mile to get an urgent project completed on time; we feel it is important to stress the fact that Lingo24’s ABC award isn’t designed to be an incentive for translators. It is meant more as a reward; a show of appreciation from Lingo24 – and the client – that by going ‘Above and Beyond the Call-of-duty’ on the odd occasion to meet a particularly tight deadline, then everybody’s job has been made a whole lot easier.

Carmen,

Don't you think that it is better simply to pay decent rates and add a bonus in cases when you are especially pleased with somebody's work?

NK

What happened to good old-fashioned rush surcharges — set by the supplier — for jobs with a particularly tight deadline?

When I broke a tooth last week and was lucky enough to get it fixed efficiently and painlessly the same day, it didn't occur to me to offer the dentist a "financial prize." I simply paid the bill, which included — perfectly reasonably — an emergency examination fee as well as the fee for the repair.

My point is that translators, like other professional service providers, should determine their own fees, rush surcharges and the like. Agencies that offer "awards" for good service — otherwise known as tips — evidently place translators on a par with waiters, taxi drivers and hairdressers. A tacit admission, perhaps, that the person doing the work sees very little of the total amount paid by the end customer.

Absolutely Tom!

We all should understand that for direct end clients we are service providers and for agencies we are business partners. We are NOT their employees! And we should behave accordingly.

NK

I think a friendly "Thank you!" will do, and of course we will recommend him to others.