Tried to push through a fever last Wednesday and lost a $900 editing gig

I woke up with chills and a temp of 101 but told myself I could power through a deadline. By noon I had misread half the client's notes and sent them a draft full of errors from the original document. They emailed back asking if I was okay and then pulled the project because they said it felt rushed. Now I'm out the money plus the 2 weeks of follow-up work we had planned. Has anyone else dug a deeper hole by working sick instead of just taking a day off?

3 comments

3 Comments

sethm5812d ago

Society keeps telling us pushing through sickness is strength but really it's just bad math.

logan27111d ago

Get a shirt that says "Pushing Through: $900 mistake.

-1

parker_hall511d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on this one a little. I mean, look, you're out $900, but if you had taken that day off, you'd have been out the whole gig anyway, right? Plenty of clients would just find someone else who's "on it" and not sick, and you'd be stuck with zero income and the same fever. Sometimes pushing through is the only way to keep the door open, even if you stumble through that one time. Better to show you're trying than to show you're not available at all, especially if that client has a history of hiring last minute.