Reflections of a stormy petrel

Seriously. They must feed on them. That is the only explanation of their business practices. A British or Italian translation agency will get in touch, describe the job, ask whether I'm available, and leave me to it till delivery. But with Americans, I am not even allowed to read the document before I have got through two or three pieces of formal, elaborate paperwork; which, given that most outsourced translation work tends to be needed urgently, can be a nuisance. I recently had to give up a last-minute job because the damned paperwork was cutting into it too much.