Back in early March, I received an email from someone who I used to do data entry projects for a couple years ago. He was with a new company, but since he always paid me in the past, I felt no reason to be concerned. I have a full time job now, but I also happened to be on vacation that week so I figured I’d make a little side change.
I gave him a full day of work, doing address and phone number updates through a website, which he provided the admin password to. When I finished I received a thanks email which also stated they a check would be sent right out.
2 weeks passed and I didn’t receive a check, so I emailed him and he replied that this project hit some snags and they wouldnot be able to pay me at this time, “sorry for the inconvenience.” I immediately wrote back to askthe what the hold up is and when I could expect to get paid, but never received a response. 2 weeks later I sent a second email and asked for an update but also did not get any response. Another 3 weeks went by and I was too preoccupied with other things to give this much thought, until the other night when I was falling asleep and realized I still hadn’t either been paid OR received any kind of update. Half asleep, I stumbled to my computer, logged back into the site, and deleted all of the sections which I updated in a fit of rage, and went back to bed.
The next morning I woke up and realized I may now be in a heap of shit. My defense is that I don’t want them using work which I did for them and didn’t get paid for, but I’m worried that my actions may get escalated. What would you have done if you were me?