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> EVERY SINGLE customer of yours is essentially your boss for a short time. A fallacy. The other day I signed an employment agreement and among other unreasona

> EVERY SINGLE customer of yours is essentially your boss for a short time. A fallacy. The other day I signed an employment agreement and among other unreasonable matter (aka normal employer employee relations in US) enjoyed the bit about their version of extended at-will agreement having the additional meaning of changing the pay, position, and responsibilities "without notice". :) Your customer may be your "boss" but she is not your employer.

cyberferret 10y ago
I can guarantee that pretty much EVERY business owner has at one stage, or more than once, had to work extra time after hours for no compensation in order to resolve a customer issue or fix a bad situation. Sometimes even do the job of another employee who is unavailable. One of my customers owns a multi million dollar food wholesale business with nearly 50 employees, and recently one day he had to drive the delivery truck himself to one particular defence site to meet the terms of their contract because one of his drivers called in sick and everyone else was out. If that doesn't constitute change of pay, position and responsibilities "without notice", then I am not sure what does. Granted, not a permanent or a legal change, but they have (and will exercise) that privilege over you from time to time. I've run my own business for over 30 years now, and many time the very survivability of my business hinged upon just a single large customer making their payment on time or renewing a massive contract. Pretty much the same as if you had a boss and your future employment hinged upon getting this particular project just right.
- dnh44 10y ago
  Also at least no one has to give their employer 90 credit terms.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
You can literally go out of business over night if one of your suppliers change business practices, or the law changes, or your lease is up, or interest rates changed, or postage changed, or the price oil changed, or your neighbors changed, or your neighborhood changed, or taxes changed, or the market changed, or society changed, or the economy changed, or thousands of more reasons.

cyberferret 10y ago

I can guarantee that pretty much EVERY business owner has at one stage, or more than once, had to work extra time after hours for no compensation in order to resolve a customer issue or fix a bad situation. Sometimes even do the job of another employee who is unavailable. One of my customers owns a multi million dollar food wholesale business with nearly 50 employees, and recently one day he had to drive the delivery truck himself to one particular defence site to meet the terms of their contract because one of his drivers called in sick and everyone else was out. If that doesn't constitute change of pay, position and responsibilities "without notice", then I am not sure what does. Granted, not a permanent or a legal change, but they have (and will exercise) that privilege over you from time to time. I've run my own business for over 30 years now, and many time the very survivability of my business hinged upon just a single large customer making their payment on time or renewing a massive contract. Pretty much the same as if you had a boss and your future employment hinged upon getting this particular project just right.

dnh44 10y ago
Also at least no one has to give their employer 90 credit terms.

nommm-nommm 10y ago

You can literally go out of business over night if one of your suppliers change business practices, or the law changes, or your lease is up, or interest rates changed, or postage changed, or the price oil changed, or your neighbors changed, or your neighborhood changed, or taxes changed, or the market changed, or society changed, or the economy changed, or thousands of more reasons.