Last week I was directly contacted thru Upwork, which I'm on, about services needed. I interviewed on MS Teams, and it seems a previous employee quit or got fired. They asked me about my skill sets, I'm fairly local which helps, and it seemed a fit. I asked about timelines and they wanted things pretty quick.
So, the next day, Friday, I log on, awaiting insight. I also did research into the platform they used since I wasn't very familiar with. Kinda like asking an accountant who uses Quickbooks to learn Freshbooks, or WordPress to learn Squarespace. (Personally, I think I should bill for that). I sent an email off saying I'll do my research, and send along any info & details as they come. I get a response saying they're working on it. 2pm comes, and I was done awaiting. I sent a nice email, saying I'll likely step away, if its urgent I'll still check my emails, but it may be better for me to handle first thing Monday morning. They write back saying they hope to get the details & info (images, dates, text summary etc) soon and they needed it done Monday 5pm, which was doable in my mind. I write back thats fine, I'll do it right away. Never got the email.
Monday, I log on, still nothing, so around 9am sent an email saying work on what they need to, I'll be ready & comfortable I can complete the task. They write back saying others are dragging their feet and they'll get it ASAP.
So it's now noon, Tuesday, and nothing. I'm done emailing them, and at this point the amount of billable time (1-3 hours) really isn't worth the pressure of doing it, for if something were to go wrong or a setting is off. Should I just ride it out & assume they're not going to follow up with me, or just email them saying thanks but no thanks. Again, the fact the previous employee seemed to have left under bad terms is kinda giving me red flags they devalue what I do, or think its so easy a monkey can do it?