What do people who need translations think of translators?

Translators are among the most despised professionals around. Despite the high level of expertise demanded of a properly qualified professional translator in terms of knowledge and general cultural background, there is a feeling abroad that anyone with some grasp of a language or two is qualified to do the job. There is also a lack of understanding of the amount of thought which must go into producing an effective rendering of the original text, especially with the modern assumption that machines can do it just as well (or even better?) than humans. Translation rates have remained stagnant for over a decade and to make matters worse, with the advent of the Internet translators in Europe, the Americas and Australasia have to compete with translators who are able to offer their services at cut-throat prices. One thing I'll never understand is the idea that a translator offered a large job should do it at a discount for bulk. To my simple understanding, the larger a job, the more onerous and taxing it is, and it is insulting to suggest that as the poor translator sags under the burden of umpteen thousand words to be completed by an unrealistic deadline, the price should be reduced just because there is more of it! A cleaner would never put up with that, Peruvian or otherwise!