So, I got used. Why can’t I put it all behind me?

There is a great Australian term for someone who complains incessantly: to whinge. Yep, that’s the kid with the chocolate stains on his shirt, dragging on Dad’s finger, saying, “Can’t we  p-l-e-a-s-e  stay a little longer?”

Dad has had quite enough. The kid is obviously a whinger.

Maybe I’m a whinger. I can’t get this feeling out of my mind that I’ve been cold-bloodedly abused. My professionalism has been assaulted. My time has been wasted.

So, what’s the story, I hear you ask?

Someone asked me to prove my skills in a phone interview. The project was to review and edit a lengthy user guide she had written. I was eager to show her my skills, and so asked for a one-page sample. She sent four. I spent some time considering it and then a while longer explaining how I would improve it. I made far-reaching suggestions. She was very interested in the details and I was very forthcoming. She gave me every reason to believe the job was mine.

I sent a quote for the whole job, and haven’t heard back, despite several requests for information.

Was I an idiot for showing all my cards? Should I have declared in advance that there is a consultancy fee involved if she decides not to use my services for the whole project? Should I have said very little? Should I simply accept this as part of the freelance business model?

What’s the limit of free advice? What should be available in the name of helping someone out with a good grace, and what is essentially stealing their knowledge? Tell me. I’d like to know.

Maybe if she had offered to pay me a consultancy fee… Maybe if she had said my advice wasn’t what she needed… But her silence simply reinforces my feeling that she really really liked my ideas and is now busy implementing them—by herself.

I think I’m just taking myself too seriously. Yep, I’m whinging. Time to lighten up, time to move on. This blog post is helping me do it.