To set my Out of Office message to "Fuck You"

[queenofwesteros]

I've been working for a very nice small company as a freelancer from home. Tonight at 5.30, out of the blue, I got a call from a liquidator telling me the company was bust and that I won't be getting paid a considerable amount of money I'm owed (in the thousands and puts me in a v v bad position with a mortgage and bills to pay). Liquidator Man thought the boss had told me already. Liquidator Man then asked me, in the interests of trying to sell the company as a going concern, to work as normal but without pay and that maybe any potential new owner would make nice and give me some of my hard-earned money if I begged was good.
To my horror, and because I was just stunned at this point, I may have mumbled agreement to this breathtaking piece of piss-taking. Having thought about it, WIBU to set my internal email automatic reply to "Fuck You" tomorrow and paint my lounge instead? Alternative suggestions welcomed.
In the interests of not drip-feeding, there had been rumblings of trouble previously but I thought they'd all been sorted out.

YANBU. Onwards and upwards. manly slap on shoulder

Try this instead:

…………………...- " \ - "::'

………………„-^'' : : „'' : : : „
…………..„-* : : :„„--/ : : : : : '

…………./ : : „-* . .| : : : : : : : '|
……….../ : „-* . . . | : : : : : : : |
………...\„-* . . . . .| : : : : : : :'|
……….../ . . . . . . '| : : : : : : : :|
……..../ . . . . . . . .'\ : : : : : : : |
……../ . . . . . . . . . .\ : : : : : : :|
……./ . . . . . . . . . . . '\ : : : : : /
….../ . . . . . . . . . . . . . -„„-'
….'/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '|
…/ . . . . . . . ./ . . . . . . .|
../ . . . . . . . .'/ . . . . . . .'|
./ . . . . . . . . / . . . . . . .'|
'/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .'|
'| . . . . . \ . . . . . . . . . .|
'| . . . . . . \„_^- „ . . . . .'|
'| . . . . . . . . .'\ .\ ./ '/ . |
| .\ . . . . . . . . . \ .'' / . '|
| . . . . . . . . . . / .'/ . . .|
| . . . . . . .| . . / ./ ./ . .|
'| . . . . . . . . .'\ .\ ./ '/ . |
| .\ . . . . . . . . . \ .'' / . '|
| . . . . . . . . . . / .'/ . . .|
| . . . . . . .| . . / ./ ./ . .|
'| . . . . . . . . .'\ .\ ./ '/ . |
| .\ . . . . . . . . . \ .'' / . '|
| . . . . . . . . . . / .'/ . . .|
| . . . . . . .| . . / ./ ./ . .|
'| . . . . . . . . .'\ .\ ./ '/ . |

Fuck that's awful, I'm sorry OP. You need to speak to someone in the legal profession asap. Do you have a solicitor? Can you go to see the CAB?

I wouldn't bother going in, work for free- fuck that.

I would have worked that picture out a lot quicker with circles on the bottom or splashes out the top, what's wrong with me >

tethers that is amazing!

Op something along the lines of 'unfortunately company x has gone in to liquidation so Queen is no longer available. If you would like to hire Queen on a freelance basis, please call '

Do NOT work for nothing. Put your energies into finding new clients. Sorry this has happened, what a nightmare.

that is so crap! i'm so sorry!

YWNBU. I like the ASCII knob too.

Or maybe just Outstanding invoice amount £xxxxx.xx plus VAT

Is that a meercat?

Meercock?

tethers that's brillliant ...cheered me right up. I may indeed borrow that one..
It seems I have no chance of seeing my money, I'd be waaaaay down on the list of creditors . There's not a chance of me working tomorrow so now I'm trying to decide whether to just set my OOO to something befitting the occasion, or write the boss a lovely wee email describing my....disappointment.

Precious I'm a contractor, self-employed so have no employee rights or comeback. Simply a clause in my contract (which I've never had to use before) stating that should either party liquidate, contract is terminated with immediate effect

That's shit, queen.

I like Lonnys idea.

Yours and tethers are good too though.

Stick to your contract clause that the contract is terminated and put your freelancer details on the out of office. Poor you.

Oh that's shit :-(

I defo think you should put your freelance contract details on your OOO unless you want to maintain goodwill in the hope of more work from the company if it's later bought

Unfortunately you're probably stuffed other than what you are due will rank as an unsecured creditor to take a dividend of what is left after secured creditors (mortgage holders if the company owned its premises ) Inland Revenue and VAT.

May be worth nothing but intimate your claim to the liquidator.

That's very shit. Sorry.

did Liquidator Man tell you who will benefit from you workign for free?

I guess not - probably tax man or their bank

What a cheeky git! I bet he's not acting as liquidator for free!

Is there any chance of you recovering even part of the money or maybe getting to keep intellectual property rights so you can sell it on or anything?

Sorry this has happened to you and you definitely should not do any work for free but be "ready and available in the event the business is sold". Then you can tell 'em to fuck off if you don't want the paid work.

Liquidator Man then asked me, in the interests of trying to sell the company as a going concern, to work as normal but without pay

That is such a try on. Liquidation and company work isn't my field but what I do do is very specialised. From time to time my firm are instructed to give specialist legal advice if a company in liquidation has had any involvement in our area and not only do we not do it for nothing it's charged out at rack rate time and line hourly rates. The bank or creditor who has called up pays us. Mr Liquidator Man isn't working for nothing.

Um. If a liquidator requires you to do work for the company in insolvency, he is required to pay you as an expense of the insolvency so if you work after today on his instruction, you should insist on payment. Expenses get paid first. Never heard of a insolvency practitioner asking for work for free, especially as he would invoice for work done by you. He asked you to work for free????? Nuts and very unprofessional.

Thanks folks. Actually the more I think about it, the angrier I'm getting. I'll be spending tomorrow looking for new clients and may give LM a call back to let him know exactly why that is. What a bloody cheek.

Cuddlydragon is spot on anything you do from now on is an expense of the liquidation. The money the company was due you before is likely lost but in my experience there's always plenty of money around to pay the liquidator and the liquidator's legal advisors.

Just a thought...I have a company laptop and a shiny iPhone 5. Would I be within my rights to keep them in lieu of some of the lost payment?

A couple of things...

How long ago did you last get paid?

Find out if he is actually the Liquidator. Sometimes companies try to 'Liquidate' in a less than professional manner that's putting it politely

Put, in writing, your claim. Squeeky wheels do sometimes get the category of claim raised.

Re the laptop & iPhone, I am not sure if you have 'a right' (I used to be involved in Liquidation, but not in the UK) - but I wouldn't be saying a thing and if they came calling I'd deny having them. I wouldn't let them in the house, that's if they even know where you live. Get a new sim for the Iphone.