conflict of interest....

I had a job abroad this week. Abroad is where you usually get to see other kit as in the UK most agencies seem to use the same equipment.

This time was no exception, and I worked with a new console again, the Bosch LBB 3222/04 Interpreter Desk, just for the breakout session. My only criticism is that it doesn't have a socket for the 3.5mm jack of my - by now obligatory - Bang & Olufsen earphones, and I'd left the adapter at home.

But this was not the really memorable bit about this particular conference. For the first time I heard complaints about my colleague and allowed him to be removed from the job, or rather, I stood by and didn't defend him. The funny thing is that there was nothing to defend as he was not doing a good job on the day. Still, I felt I had betrayed him.

This made me think about something. I am a good interpreter. I am not perfect, nobody is, but I am among the best in my language pair. (Why do I feel people will think I am arrogant when I say this? Why do I immediately feel the need to defend myself, even though it is the truth?)

Still, I have much less work than many of my colleagues. I've been trying to figure out why and have recently come to the conclusion that it's because I don't talk badly about my colleagues, even when maybe I should, for the best of the service we are contracted to provide, inform the agency of quality issues that I become aware of. At the same time I try to defend decent working conditions for interpreters in the face of persistent attempts to undermine them.

Conversely, I have been informed by a reliable source recently that several years ago I had been off the calling list of an agency that used to be one of my best clients because a colleague had said something about me, and without giving me the opportunity to respond to the allegations (whatever they might have been, although I can't think of anything), I just didn't get any calls from that agency for a couple of years. I do now, but I had to work my way back up from scratch through no fault of my own, and am not sure when someone else or the same person will slag me off again and to whom, effectively putting me out of work.

One other example for why agencies would cut interpreters loose: an interpreter goes to a conference where the client at the last minute replaces the booth and table microphones and all the kit with a tourguide system, consisting of battery-operated receivers for the delegates and a roving microphone for the interpreter who sits in the room, usually at the back (the worst place for hearing what he/she is supposed to interpret). This set-up is only suitable when the interpreter sits/stands/walks right next to the speaker or the group is very small. It doesn't work when 30 people want to speak... and rustle with paper... and pour water... and play with sweets wrappers... and stir their coffee... and speak with the back of their heads to the interpreter... you get the idea. So this colleague, who had told the agency in advance that the tourguide was not appropriate, had to ask the speakers several times to repeat themselves and explain why, only to get a call later from the agency that the client had complained about her attitude and would not work with her again. She got punished for the client trying to cut corners and the interpreting agency failing to do ITS job of advising the client what solution would be suited to their needs and what was never going to work.

As opposed to most other careers, it would seem that being a good interpreter is a real obstacle to moving up the ranks. Knowing your job well and making certain demands - yes, but in the interest of being able to provide a good to outstanding service instead of having to perform a totally preventable damage-limitation exercise caused by ignorance on part of the client AND sometimes the agency of what interpreting involves - seems to be an offence punishable by not being allowed to work.

It's an upside-down world...