“La crisis”

If you don’t live in Spain, or live in Spain and don’t speak Spanish or have been living on another planet for the last few months, “la crisis” is the dramatic Spanish term used to describe the global financial meltdown. As with the phrase “credit crunch”, I cringe whenever I hear it. Up until last week I was proudly claiming that I still had plenty of work on, thank you very much, and the “crisis” hadn’t knocked on my door (not that the majority of freelance translators are exactly raking it in but that’s another story). Perhaps it’s the Easter effect but the work has suddenly dried up. It’s actually quite good timing as my little boy’s nursery is closed for 10 days so I get to take a holiday (unpaid, of course). I am also in the middle of a legal process for an unpaid invoice that dates back to last July. The company say they have no money in the kitty, but you can bet the director goes back to a luxury home in his flash car every evening… Autónomos (the self-employed) are always at the bottom of the business food chain where payments are concerned. We receive our pay after everybody else has received theirs. The most galling part is that autónomos have to pay IVA (VAT) to the government on invoices even though they have not been paid yet, unless you can prove there is a delay of over six months (“en morosidad”). There are currently demonstrations taking place all over Spain to try and change the unfair system that autónomos face here. I have managed to avoid hiring a lawyer up to now, as a friend gave me a model of a letter to send to the local court. The company now have twenty days to pay up or… Your guess is as good as mine to what happens next, I haven’t a clue, but am checking my account every day to see if the money is there, more than anything to avoid the hassle that taking it further will involve. I am currently owed a lot of money in unpaid invoices which are still not within the margins of being “en morosidad” but could go that way. I am now considering charging people on completion of work, or asking for a percentage before starting and a percentage on completion. This may mean the loss of a potential new client but I have to weigh up the pros and cons of sitting up till the wee hours at the weekend and then not getting paid a bean for the privilege (which was the case with this current unpaid invoice).