is this a job or a stint in a Victorian sweatshop?

[Corygal]

So my mate rings and asks me to cover for her for 140 quid a day working on some Word files from home. To last 4 days, urgent job. Of course, I say. She is one of life's joys.

But since that time - 7 days ago - her bosses have, without fail,

emailed me demanding complicated answers by return from 9am-10 pm at night, every night, including all weekend;
interrupted me on the phone while I was at a surgeon appt in hosp;
game-changed so I had to work 20 hours at weekend (for no extra)
got muddled so I had to work from 6am this am to meet deadline (again, no extra)
got muddled and sent through 30 random emails in 24 hrs instead of a brief

and have made it plain that while I bust a gut to meet their deadline, they won't be paying me for 3 months.

Should I tell them to get stuffed?

I would be tempted to tell them to get stuffed due to the change of goal posts and 3 months to pay you

But how will that affect your friend and your friendship?

Also - did you agree the hours and days before you started, as if you did, I don't think you would be unreasonable to tell them you will be billing them for the extra

I don't suppose they would have known about your surgeons appointment so I would be minded to let that one go

They won't be paying you for 3 months? At which point they will probably turn around and tell you your work wasn't up to standard and they won't pay you.

No way would I be doing that.

Yep, I agreed to 4 days work ending last week - but am expecting another email filled with !!!! and ??? and ?!?! right now.

They did know about the hosp thing, I told them before I accepted. I also told them I would be ending without question at lunchtime today. No dice. First email breaking the curfew came through 1hr after I told them I'd left.

just stop replying to them?

at what point did they say they wouldnt pay for 3 months?

Yes.

Or....
Tell them that if they want you to continue working for them, your terms are as follows... and then insert the terms that you want (assuming you want to do some work for them). Starting obviously with payment for previous work immediately. THen things such as £200/day, double at weekends. £50/hour (or part thereof) for any work outside of regular hours (eg 9-5) - sending emails that demand immediate reactions after 5pm will automatically incur this fee, any that are sent at 10pm or later or involve working beyond 10pm will cost£100/hour. Likewise anything before 9am - £100/hour

Plus you will need payment in advance for 3 days (or whatever is reasonable for what they are asking you to do), then bill afterwards/weekly for everything else.

I would also put in everything else you can think of to cover yourself - eg poor explanations leading to work being redone, game changed - they still have to pay, phone will be off during certain times. etc etc etc

If they don't agree to it - fine. If they do and you can bear it for another few days (?) then you might be able to make serious money :o

Tricky because of your friend unfortunately - do they treat her this badly do you know?