In my freelance work, I have come across all sorts of clients. Some are memorable for good things. One in particular is a favorite of mine. The first time I met with her she decided to argue with me about the price of my services---she wanted to pay more than my rates. I'm not stupid; I let her win! Since that meeting, I've done a lot of work for her and have always been paid well and on time. Even better, the work she asks for is research-oriented, which I love.

When she paid me for the most recent bit of work, she added a bit, because she said that I had put more effort and knowledge into her project than the amount of time billed showed. More than the money, I appreciate that she realizes my work does involve effort and knowledge.

But then there are clients. A yuppie-sounding type (haven't met him, but had a few phone conversations) wants to hire me to convert a few files from a dedicated word processor format to a DOS-based computer one. He heard of me through a business machines sales/repair shop, where the owner is a close friend of mine who happened to know I had the same model of word processor and the conversion program.

The work involved here is exacting---transferring these files isn't the same as doing a disk copy job by any means. Both the dedicated word processor and a computer are required, along with the conversion program, which must be restarted for every file converted. I think I'm about the only person in town with capability to do the conversion.

All well and good so far. But yuppieboy is pissing me off. He first called in the spring. I quoted him a price, based on knowing about how long it would take me to do the thing (I'm estimating two hours), and he agreed. He said he'd call back.

He called back a couple of weeks later, and asked if he could come "sometime" the next afternoon to drop off the files in need of conversion. I said that would be fine, but since he was vague about when he could come, I suggested he call again to make sure I was available. He thought that was a good idea.

You see it coming, don't you? Of course he didn't call.

Several weeks later, he called to apologize and ask to reschedule, but I was planning to be out of town a few days, and suggested he call again.

The most recent call was Tuesday night. He told my voice mail that he wanted to come that night to drop off the disk with the files, but wanted me to call back. And the next day, during business hours, I did. I got his answering machine, and left a message that I was too busy this week to do the work, which is true.

It really flew all over me that he thought it was appropriate to call me on business at night. Trust me, it isn't.

The only reason I'm still willing to do the work is that I've said I would do it. I really don't want to mess with it, at this point.

And it got me started thinking that I need to start charging an under-appreciation fee to some clients, or add to my regular fee for work where a lot of effort will be involved. In this case, this client wannabe's rate is set, but for future situations I'd like to have a plan.

What do you think? Any suggestions?