Three months ago I was blogging for a lifestyle’s website. After four or three months of working for the company, I got an email from my editor notifying me of the company’s financial troubles. As a result, they wouldn’t be able to pay for posts submitted during the month - in my case, eight posts.

She proceeded to explain the situation, which was related to the economy.  And she ended the message with, “we have every intent to pay writers for their work.” I’ve heard that before.

After three weeks of no payment and a friendly reminder e-mail, I accepted the fact that I would probably never receive a dime from the company…and I moved on with life. It’s unfortunate, but this is an aspect of freelance writing. It doesn’t happen often. And after seven years of freelancing and working with countless clients, I’ve only been stiffed three or four times.

But this time was different.

I had completely forgotten about the company and the money owed. But to my surprise, I opened my mailbox recently and caught sight of an envelope - with a check.  None of my clients pay by check, and for a moment, I actually stepped back and wrecked my brain trying to figure the reason for the check. But as soon as I saw the return address, I immediately recognized the sender.

It was an unexpected surprise, and it actually renewed my faith in clients who run out of money mid-project. A similar situation occurred in September when another company I blogged for went broke. They couldn’t submit payments, but promised to compensate bloggers when their finances improved. It’s been more than six months, and I haven’t heard from them since February.

Who knows, maybe one day I’ll open the mailbox and get hit with another unexpected surprise.