Context: up until 2019, I worked for 3 years at an international organization where the pay/benefits were fantastic but the working conditions were horrendous, disorganization was rampant, and I was generally miserable.
Fast forward 3 years: I've moved to another country and have a lower paying job that I love. Ex-boss approached me with a request for a consultancy to complete an urgent task due in 10 days. I agreed, as I have some time and figured I could use the extra cash and this would only bind me to them for a brief period of time.
Well it's now only 7 days away from when they want the final report delivered, and I have yet to receive any contract with a financial offer, despite clearly indicating my availability to do the work. Right now, nothing legally binds me to them to do the work. So my choices are basically to:
1) get started on the work, to avoid having even less time to work on this, but fail to deliver it until I have a clear offer in hand.
2) not work until I am given the contract, and do a crappy job.
They are basically making it impossible for me to deliver high quality work. Needless to say I've learned my lesson and will not be accepting future consultancies from them again.