Working smart pays off but so does working clever!

Sometimes you have to take risks when it comes to clients even though things might look fishy.

This guy took up work from a client but knew something was up!

Check out how he got paid even when the client refused to do so.

AITA for adding a safety script to a freelance project that reversed my work when the client didn’t pay as agreed?

I’m a DevOps Engineer with a steady job, but I also do some freelance work on the side.

Around the end of July this year, I took on a project for a client in the UK. The job was to optimize around 150 Jenkins automation jobs that were, honestly, a bit of a mess.

He made his terms and conditions clear before taking up the project.

We agreed it would take about 20 hours over a week, and I’d charge £100 per hour. But then the client asked if I could get it done in just 3 days.

I said sure, but for that kind of rush, it would be double the rate — £200 per hour. They agreed.

To get this done quickly, I set up a Jenkins instance on my end and linked it to their server, which they were fine with.

He worked his way around the rushed project.

I made all the changes on my side, then copied the updated config files over to their machine.

It was faster this way, but it also meant that how the changes were made wouldn’t show up in their Jenkins job configuration history.

He saw some red flags and took his precautions.

Now, because I’ve had issues with payments before (and reading too many Reddit posts about unruly clients), I included a script in their server that would reverse all my work if things went south.

The script would only run if my user ID wasn’t found on their system, which would only happen if they removed my access.

I figured if they kicked me out silently without paying, they were probably planning to keep all my work for free.

So, this script was my way of protecting myself.

He was sorted in terms of his project.

It was supposed to run on the Summer Bank Holiday (August 26).

If I had access, I would just modify it to go off on a later date, or remove the script altogether if payment was completed without a hitch.

I finished the job by August 2nd, and the project was set to start from September.

The client asked me to train their team, but I’m in India, and with the time difference and my full-time job, it just wasn’t feasible.

He did some extra work for the client.

Instead, I offered to make a training video, charged at my original rate of £100 per hour.

It took about 2 weeks to make an 8 hours long video, and I sent it to them on August 17th. So far, they had only paid an initial booking fee of £800.

Then things got weird.

The client completely flipped from their word!

The client, who had agreed to pay double for the rush job, suddenly decided they only wanted to pay the original £100 per hour for the whole thing.

Their reasoning?

They said they just mentioned the higher rate to “motivate” me to finish faster, and since I didn’t actually do twice the work, they felt I didn’t deserve twice the money.

He was not going to agree to the pay rate!

We went back and forth on this until the end of August, but neither of us budged.

August 26th rolled around, and that’s when the script kicked in.

Turns out, they had removed my access, which triggered the script to reverse everything I’d done.

After that, I sent them an email saying I was done with the project.

He had taken his safety pills!

I told them they could keep the training video and that I’d keep the £800 booking fee as payment for the video.

To say the client is mad is an understatement, but I feel like I’ve been clear about my terms.

But now I’m starting to wonder — did I go too far?

So, Reddit, you decide — AITA?

Even though he got exploited, he made sure his client wouldn’t get away with it!

Let’s find out what the Reddit community thinks about this one!

That’s right! This user thinks this guy was clever enough to have his own back.

This person suggests making an official work contract before taking up a client.

This user likes how things are with this guy.

This person applauds the guy for getting his money for this job.

This person knows how precious this man’s skills are!

That’s right!

Everyone loves the clever thinking of this guy and how he respected the value of his time and effort!

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