Poll: Do you send presents (choc./wine/calend.) to your regular customers? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you send presents (choc./wine/calend.) to your regular customers?".
View the poll results »
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I would never send gifts to a client. On the other hand, over the years I have found myself occasionally on the receiving end when I was working as a sworn translator: a couple to whom I had translated all the paperwork required by an international adoption sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a lady to whom I translated her divorce papers sent me a chocolate box.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:25
Member (2008)
Italian to English
ProZ.com Staff wrote: This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you send presents (choc./wine/calend.) to your regular customers?". View the poll results »
Absolutely not. What a daft idea! They're already dining out on the profits they make from my work!
| | | | Marjolein Snippe 
Netherlands
Local time: 00:25
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
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Years ago, a particularly horrible project for a particularly terrible end client was driving me absolutely mad - I remember screaming at the walls at one point. A very helpful PM rescued me by taking care of bits of the project, smoothing things out with the end client and generally cheering me up.
When the project was finally finished, I sent her a large bar of chocolate.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 00:25
Spanish to English
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It's not really part of my business culture. I was pleasantly surprised once when acting as secretary for an international conference and the Danish speaker presented me with a steel paper knife as a gift - apparently that is common practice for them. On other occasions, clients have given me things like olive oil or wine, which was nice, but I've never given gifts to clients, or even thought about it.
| | | | John Silva
Brazil
Local time: 19:25
English to Portuguese
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It just makes no sense to me. I have known people who actually do this. They all said that it did not make any difference in their relationship with the clients. I think what makes a client really like you is your quality as a translator, your politeness, etc.
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 18:25
German to English
| Many companies have a code of ethics | Feb 2, 2022 |
Numerous companies have ethics regulations that prohibit employees from accepting gifts from suppliers. I do, however, send postcards to my oldest agency customer when I travel.
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I've found my clients prefer them to gorillagrams
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| Yes, A Couple Of Times | Feb 2, 2022 |
I sent a flower arrangement, embellished by a bevy of beautiful red roses, to one of my most important clients ever, and her husband, not only because of the massive amount of work she sent my way over a period of several years, but because they hosted me for a week in Rome, at which time they paid almost all of my expenses. While there, I also treated them to dinner at an outdoor restaurant they like. Before that, I sent another client I worked for on almost a daily basis for about four years, ... See more I sent a flower arrangement, embellished by a bevy of beautiful red roses, to one of my most important clients ever, and her husband, not only because of the massive amount of work she sent my way over a period of several years, but because they hosted me for a week in Rome, at which time they paid almost all of my expenses. While there, I also treated them to dinner at an outdoor restaurant they like. Before that, I sent another client I worked for on almost a daily basis for about four years, and who hosted me twice in Central Italy, a coffee table book, chock-full of color photographs, on Marie Antoinette's hamlet, which is not too far from the Chateau de Versailles, down a pleasant country road, and which made quite an impression on me for various reasons when I had the pleasure of seeing it. Conversely, I have received flowers and a large variety of presents from clients, including from those already mentioned, and from two that reside here in the US.
[Edited at 2022-02-02 15:16 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-02-02 15:17 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-02-02 20:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Actually, I think it should be the other way around, that the customers should send presents to their translators. They earn a big chunk and we do most of the work.
[Edited at 2022-02-02 15:17 GMT]
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 18:25
Japanese to English
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Only once. When I worked on a multi-year, career-making project for a prestigious law firm in New York (it was a famous case involving accounting fraud for a Japanese trading company). I gave the two principal lawyers a bottle of champagne half-way through the project. I have lived off the reputation of this case ever since. I don't resent having given the gifts. But generally I regard giving clients presents as obsequious and degrading for the translator. There are always exceptions.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 19:25
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Some polls here make me think the askers live in another world.
Poll: how many of your clients send you gifts... ever. How many pay a little extra when you do a little extra?
No matter how good you are, you are a number. The only thing that matters is how much money you make them earn. Period.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 00:25
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| No, should be the other way round. | Feb 3, 2022 |
Never sent a gift to a client, but received tiny $50-100 bonuses on Christmas a couple of times (direct clients).
Managers are commonly not allowed to receive gifts from vendors (company policies), due to the conflict of interest and possibility of bribing.
| | | | Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 23:25
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
Not to all and not because they are regular, but to some and because I like them!
Daft idea is to limit oneself to constant grumpiness, IMHO.
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