Money / Freelance / Friendship

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hey all,

A friend of mine works for a company where he often has to do research into various upcomming films or games or other means of entertainment. He knows I’m a movie junkie, and have a lot of free time on my hands, as I’ve been unemployed for almost 9 months. He’s said he’d try to get me a job with his company, but so far to no avail.
About once a week he’ll IM me asking a question about some upcomming film or whathaveyou, to see if I can find some info for him. I don’t -mind- finding the info; I look at it as something of a challenge. However, he’s getting -paid- for this, and I’m living off the government. The first couple times he did this, we joked about how I should charge him. Now I’m getting to the point that I’m wondering why he should be making money off of my work. Now, granted, what he asks I’m usually able to accomplish within 30 minutes, but still…
Today he had me look up some stuff about a movie, and asked me what I charged for such things. From the ensuing conversation, I realized he was just ‘joking’ about it. I feel a bit like I’m being taken advantage of here, but I think the only way I won’t be is if I can give him a definate -ammount- to charge for my librarian-esque duties. Anyone else out there do this sort of thing? And what does one charge for, in essence, finding info this guy -should- be able to get himself, but just doesn’t seem to know how to plumb the inky depths of the internet for? Aslo, how do I put my foot down without sounding like an ass?

2

Hmmm…you’ve done it up to now, but you don’t want to do it for free anymore. Were you doing it to help him with his work or because he’s a friend? Either way, you’ve already set a precedent and he’s bound to be a little pissed if you stop. Maybe you could lightly tell him that he owes you a 6-pack or something. Or you could “show” him how to look it up himself. Other than that, I think you might be stuck.

3

I would suggest - just suggest - that you go right ahead and sound like an ass. He’s been relying on you to perform minor, though seemingly important, research for close to a year. And he’s your friend. Tell’im as much.

4

Well, what has he done for you, lately? And would you be pissed about the questions if you were employed? If you’re seeing dollar signs everywhere (which can happen when you’re broke) then don’t blame him. If he’s using you, try this Miss Manners ploy: you’d love to check on that, when you get the time, but you’re terribly busy … perhaps with your job search.

5

In another thread, I pointed out a rule that an artist friend gave me: “When working for friends or family, either charge nothing or charge the full rate”. That is, either treat it as a favor (and do it at a time and in a manner of your convenience), or treat it exactly as you would any other customer. Anything in between (discount, do it for a six-pack), leads only to trouble.