More vexation

I was handed a one-off editing job at the end of last week - proofing a new EFL textbook for a Chinese educational publisher.

It was handed to me by one of my contacts at the recording studio where I work most regularly. She is a nice enough woman, but the most hopelessly disorganized person I've met out here (and, god knows, I've met a fair few of those), and I long ago dubbed her 'Headless' M***.

She said it was a bit of a rush job, so I promised to try and get it done over the weekend (probably at least 4 or 5 hours' work, not particularly good pay), and return it to her when I was next back at the studio for some voicework on Tuesday afternoon.

Late on Tuesday morning, just as I had set out for the studio, she called me to let me know that she'd given me the wrong text. Not much by way of apology or explanation. No chance of any additional fee to compensate me for the fact that I might have just done several hours' work in vain.

As it happens, I was ill and sleeping badly (and, yes, staying out much too late) over the weekend, and didn't get down to it. I'd only just begun to make a start on the job on Monday evening, and was intending to defer delivery until today or tomorrow (I'd been told I could have until Friday). Sometimes procrastination is a good thing.

I am tempted to just sit on the new text for a few days, just in case The Headless One belatedly discovers she's made a mistake again.