Hi anti-work friends! I'd love to get your takes on a situation that's been stressing me out for a few months now. I've been working with one employer/client as a 1099 contractor on short-term (3-6 month) contracts for a year. I've recently decided to re-negotiate my arrangement to build in more flexibility: they wanted me working "about 40 hours" a week without giving me the benefits of a full-time employee, I got tired of it and asked for a reduction of hours to 3/4 time (aka ~28 hours). I'm now being told that I have to commit to a set schedule -- so, specific days and times that I will ALWAYS be working and available. As a 1099 contractor, I am well within my rights to push back against that, BUT the caveat is, I've accepted some "gray area" perks like PTO, which a contractor is not normally entitled to.
Here's my struggle: Do I accept this "quid pro quo" (we treat you a little better than a contractor is entitled to and in return make demands like setting your hours) or do I try to walk this relationship back to what it's strictly supposed to be (I receive a deliverable, I complete it whenever I see fit as long as I meet mutually agreed upon deadlines)? The big caveat here is based on all my time working with them, and the company culture, I see it being a huge uphill battle for me to redefine the relationship that is unlikely to work out well for me.