Sorry this is my first post so if I ramble or type weirdly apologies in advance. I’m 22 and freelancing as a graphic designer in Rayong. Lately I’ve been cranking out work for a company whose team is in Bangkok, but talking with the people on that team has been... honestly, both funny and confusing at the same time lol.

Short story: they hired me project-based to run a campaign, lots of deliverables in a month. I followed the agreed scope, sent the files and did two rounds of reviews like we talked about. After I sent the second round, the project lead (he’s the one running the office team, not my direct boss) popped into our Line group at 10:15pm on a Thursday and wrote, “It’s still not on spec, needs more changes.” He didn’t point to specifics, just said “redo it” and sent me the same file again.

I’m fine with making tweaks, but what felt weird was he messaged me in my private Line like he was ordering an employee and then said, “It must be done tomorrow,” even though the deadline we’d agreed on was a week later. Whoa, isn’t that too soon? That forced me to reshuffle other jobs and pull two hours of urgent work and even pause some pieces mid-way. I tried to explain that changing the deadline would affect my other work, but the reply was “understood, just do it.” It sounded more like an order than a conversation. Silent. I dunno.

You might think why not just drop the contract? I thought about it, but this project pays well and could lead to more gigs from people in their network. Also I don’t want to look inflexible. I want to keep the relationship and I want the money, but I don’t want to get pinged and bossed around at night all the time. Freelance life should have some freedom, right? But sometimes it feels like I’m a temp with no steady salary. Confused, right? Super confused.

Another thing: the teammates seem to defend the lead. When I ask for more details, someone on the team quickly replies curtly and then drops the topic, like lining up to protect him. It makes me shut up. Sometimes I wonder if this workflow is actually okay or if I’m just weak and being overlooked.

For now I’m managing by sending a summary email before I start each task, saying how I understand the job and that the deadline is X date, and if there are changes they should give at least 48 hours’ notice. That helps a bit, but it’s tiring to write long summaries constantly. Some days I wonder if I’m just overthinking it or if I’m simply asking for basic professional respect. Inner conflict.

I want to be direct, but I’m scared it’ll cost me the job or future work. My head is a mess—sipped my coffee and stared at my watch and let the thoughts go round for a couple hours T_T

So what do you all think? Should I set firmer rules, like no out-of-hours requests or charge rush fees, for real? Or keep going and tolerate it hoping for repeat business? I’m confused but also kind of laughing about it lol.

P.S. Has anyone else run into this often? Please share how to talk to them politely but clearly.