Criticized by my boss. He is right or crazy or what?

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I work at a film production company, as a freelancer. My main duty is logging all their footage for a big documentary project. This involves tagging each clip with descriptors, transcribing interviews, and getting it all online to their web server for the client to view.

But I also seem to be the catch all for duties other people are too busy to do. Like I get asked to digitize 12 hours of footage and it has to be done by tomorrow afternoon. They say no one else has time to do it, so I do. I've got two computers each digging footage, and I'm checking each every few minutes while I transcribe on another machine. Then I get asked to write up a set of instructions for our client on how to access footage online. I start working on that as well, but thanks to some technical issues I have to get some troubleshooting assistance on one of our software programs involved in the web server.

Then at 5:45 this evening I get asked to review four summaries and make revisions and the producer needs them done today so he can pass them along tomorrow. I say sure, while he leaves for the day. And since I'm a freelancer, and don't have keys to the place I have to leave when the last guy leaves. So I took the files home with me and worked on them at home. But before I can email them to the producer, HE EMAILS ME, asking me if I misunderstood his request since he didn't have my revisions, and telling me not to bother if I don't have them, and lecturing me on doing a better job of multitasking.

All I can think is, WHAT THE f**k DO YOU CALL WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING ALL DAY? SITTING ON MY ASS?

Can anyone give an outside view here? Am I the problem, or what?

I think the issue is you are not communicating with them. You are a freelancer so I imagine you are being paid to perform a particular task or set of tasks and those tasks only and not a salaried employee of the company. If that is the case, it's not acceptable for the company to bestow you with the responsibility of finishing work that their employees didn't, especially when you don't have the time and are not being paid for it.

When someone presents you with tasks you are not currently being paid for you need to let them know that there will be an additional charge for it. If you don't have time to do it you need to tell them. Concerning the time issue, you might say, "I'm sorry I've got a full workload right now and the soonest I'd be able to have x for you would be (whenever)."

If you just say "Ok" or "Sure", people expect you have the time to do it.

You're dealing with creative as*holes.

1. They should understand that as a freelancer, you can't stay at the office if everyone else leaves. Hence, if you continue working it's at home (time delay to get home and resume working). If they don't like it, they should address your being able to lock up by yourself or understand that they'd better get stuff to you when you can be finished before the last guy goes home.

2. They should understand ALL that you are asked to do and that you are not sitting there doing nothing at the time they come by and ask for something to be done.

The problem with the production business (from what I gather) is a lot of competing personalities who think their need is the most important of all.

You need to politely stand up to these people and remind them of what you do and not accept bullying like this from someone who is getting what he asked for in spite of his wrong presumption that you were not doing the work.

Stop saying "sure" to every request. When you agree to do anything, they correctly interpret that to mean that you CAN and WILL do it.

It is not your boss's liability to understand you or your schedule. It is your liability to define what you can do at one time, and tell them when you expect each task to be finished. It's your task to tell them that some extra work can't be done within their expected time frame, or ask them which other task they want you to delay to tackle some other emergency.

The more you say "sure" the more work they will assign you. Then they will get mad that you can't finish it all, since you agreed to do it. Stop agreeing to do things you know can't be done. Your boss is not being an as*hole or insane. This is just how the workplace works. Many companies have no budget to hire extra employees, yet they are not regulated as to how much they can spend on contractors. That is why contractors are typically assigned employee's extra duties.

Many contractors get wealthy by taking advantage of this fact, charging the company sky-high rates for any extra hours or extra assignments, and the company is forced to pay because they can't hire anyone new, even though a new hire would cost less in the long run. Contractors know that working for a company in this bind is like winning the Lotto. You need to write up a new rate schedule for your services. You need to make your rates high, while still being competitive in the industry. Speak with other contractors in your area and in your field to get the best idea of what you can get away with charging. A general rule of thumb is that freelancers charge approximately 1.5 times a regular employee's wages per hour.

If you learn to say no instead of "sure", and revise your rate schedule, you will be overworked and rich. Instead of overworked and frustrated.

Yes, something like that.

Personally, and even as an in-house (on the regular payroll) type of industrial fabricator, I still used to have "job tickets" within open sight for anyone and/or everyone to see ... and then I always asked for new ones to be prioritized so I would not ultimately be blamed for whatever either did or not get done by the end of the typical workday.

Yeah, but what can I do, I mean really? It's a competitive business, and I'm fearful of being replaced by someone because there are so many vying for work. And everyone comes to me saying, "This needs to be done," and I'm the only option because everyone else is slammed and if I say I can't, they are screwed, and it bounces back on me because I didn't help them. I'm trying to find my f*****g place after working my ass off my whole life with little results while all my friends are raking in money and f*****g marrying and buying houses because they're goddamn tools.

I've gotta make my masterpiece film, and to do that I need money, and I've gotta work, and to keep working, I gotta please everybody. I can't say no because what if that starts the slide down and they say, "He' s not a team player, hire the other guy."

I'm just gonna put in my time until I can make the masterpiece. I've made so many films already that didn't matter a damn, I just MUST have a success, and soon I will have it and then I'll never work for another person again. If I fail, I'll blow my f*****g head off.

Then you are all screwed together. Why should it all fall on you? Why should you have to have some special ability to do an enormous load of work that they can't? You are a contract employ. Your contract states you are to perform a specific tasks and you are only legally responsible for those tasks. It is the responsibility of management to see to it that they have enough employees to handle the workload and they have failed at that because they don't understand their business. And they don't understand it because someone has either given them the impression that the workload should be manageable.

You are worried that if you talk to them about all of this, they will think you are an inferior working and will fire you, If they think you are not completing a workload which should be manageable because they never had any reason to think otherwise, they will eventually fire you.

You need to set work boundaries, and be a better communicator. Particularly, you should not take on work you were not hired for, are not being paid for, and that interferes with the responsibilities you were hired for. Believe me your NT coworkers would likely not, nor would your bosses. They would expect to be paid for their work and the work not exceed the terms of their contract. Why should you be different?

If you get fired for saying you don't have time to complete a task you are not responsible for, then then walk away from that place with relief because work environments where management does not sufficiently understand the business, and what it entails as far as resources, or does not respect work contracts or the workers is not a healthy environment to work in.



I think perhaps those with AS are more persistent in life, and persistence can be a strength but it can also be a weakness. Most people are more pragmatic in their pursuits and a bit more impulsive. They will settle and marry people who weren't really the love of their life. They will make financial decisions which they will regret. They will even completely give up on their dreams. They marry the girl, they buy the house, and take the job working 9-5 in some boring office, and sometimes it works, or sometimes, a few years down the line they are in debt, unhappy and headed for divorce.



Have you ever noticed a large number of creative successful types didn't fund their projects with a 9-5 job. They network with those who also want to make a name for themselves or who need experience. Some of them get grants. Perhaps you can get a grant for your masterpiece.



You have to understand that, while humans aren't the least altruistic of primates (chimpanzees), humans aren't the most altruistic of primates (bonobos).

A human will readily subconsciously exploit a "yes" person. Not because they are necessarily malicious, but because they can't see the boundaries. The person did not set any. What if I had a yard with a pool, and someone came into my yard and asked the use the pool one day and I said "sure". What if they started brining their friends and I continued to act like it was ok even though I wasn't ok with it. Eventually, I have a pool party in my yard every day, and I can't stand the noise, and the trash, and I start to get upset because I think they are being rude? I start to think they SHOULD respect my yard and my need for peace and they SHOULD know to go away. But how could they know this? I never told them. I never set any boundaries for them at all in fact, when they thought there might be a boundary (by initially asking if they could come in my yard and use my pool) I told them there wasn't one by saying they could use the pool, and the next day when they came back with their friends, I implied there wasn't one by allowing it even though they didn't ask.

So now I have a bunch of people in my yard making a mess, and I don't want them there but I have no guts and let this go on for a while until one day I do put my foot down. I tell them they all have to leave and guess what....

Despite how nice I was for letting them use my yard and pool all this time, they aren't grateful, they're upset. They argue with me. They become upset with me and try to pressure me into letting them use my yard and pool again.

This is just how the human mind works. If you give people something and never give them any reason to believe it's conditional, and then take it away they get mad. They feel you've changed the rules of the game on them and are being unfair, or they feel you have taken something they have come to believe they were entitled to.

You can't please everyone. No one ever has, so you need to get rid of that notion. You need to set boundaries from the beginning. Humans need to know where the boundaries of others are. They need to know what is ok and what isn't. If you have conditional boundaries, you need to let those conditions be known. This would have been like me saying "Hey, sorry guys, you can't use the pool today. Maybe another time," when they came back to use the pool the second time.



They might, but you're not going to get what you want or need by saying yes all the time for reasons explained above. It hasn't worked so far has it? And if you are not a team player then so what? If this is the type of work environment where they drive their team players into the ground then it's not a good work environment. Why be a team player on a team you can't win on? They might hire the other guy but the only way that's going to work out for him is if he can handle the work load or he sets boundaries and they understand and respect them. All other paths lead to him getting fired eventually, or at the very least, a hostile work environment.

So you see it's not just you. I got fired once....a few times, but one at this one place I had noted there were photos with people I had not known, mail at my desk for people who didn't work there, names on reports I hadn't recognized, and when I asked about these people I was told "Oh, they don't work here any more." I found that curious. Later I found they had all previously had my position, which I discovered had an unrealistically high workload because I was expected to do things outside of my job description, and the boss had never worked either position and didn't understand the workload.

In hindsight I should have quit or at least had a talk with the boss but I didn't have the insight I have conveyed here at the time.




I think you should consider setting some boundaries if you want to stay at the place. Be civil but honest and realistic in your time estimates.



Are these films on youtube? If so, I'd like to see them. I've come across many wonderful films on youtube which I have thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately the industry is now very saturated. On the upside, more people have access to equipment to make films, and have a forum to present it to the masses. They don't have to rely as much on social networking. They put them online and hope for the best. On the downside, they become a star in a starry sky, and never become particularly known and will never really receive payment or recognition for their work, but that does not mean their work was not phenomenal or has never touched anyone.

I guess my question to you is, what do you really want out of your work? Do you want to share the universe within with others so they can partake in it or do you just want to be revered as a great something?