Today was quite possibly the most annoying day of my life - EVER. A combination of circumstances created by others meant I got nothing done and did only other people's work today. In fact, I think I came close to doing something for everyone in the firm, except myself. This prompted me to think of a few of the etiquette rules that could have prevented my agony:
1. Do not go on vacation and ask someone to handle something for you that isn't urgent and requires hours of work to fix your mistakes.
2. Do not ask me to spend hours training someone you hired against my wishes to work on a project on a case that's not mine because the idiot who owns the case is on vacation and hasn't done their job in months.
3. Do not put post-trial filing in a pile when I am still dealing with post-trial hearings.
4. Do not prepare a certificate of service without all the attorneys for multiple parties and then tell me it's complete.
5. Do not assume an attorney is handling their own deadline while they are in depositions and you haven't seen any work product on it. Further, when you fail to comply with said deadline yesterday, do not presume that someone from another department (me) has the time, energy or desire to fix YOUR problem.
6. Do not tell a vendor to do something and blame me when you malpractice based on those instructions. Do not lie about it when I show you the email to prove it.
7. Do not whine to me about doing functions of your job you dislike, when I am doing one of the functions of my job that I don't like AND listening to you (which I also dislike).
8. Do not rush into the copy room with a past-due response expecting to cut-in when I am working on something that is due today on one of my cases. I DO NOT CARE! (Also, do not ask to cut-in when you refuse to return the courtesy when I am in the middle of a trial.)
9. Do not increase my non-billable supervision/ training responsibilities and complain about my overtime and billable hours in the same breath.
10. Do not complain about having to increase your billable hours when I was just assigned YOUR non-billable work.
11. Do not ask for my opinion about your work product when I am training you as a brand new paralegal, and then tell me I am wrong because your brand new secretary told you something wrong.
12. Do not ask me to come to work tomorrow.
It strikes me that there is absolutely nothing about your work environment and colleagues that you like or can tolerate. So why are you there? I realize you probably can't find any where that can make appropriate use of your oh-so-superior knowledge and skills but that might have more to do with your inflated superiority complex than others' perceived shortcomings. Try taking a breath and acknowledging that others are human once in a while and maybe things wouldn't be so stressful. Oh I forgot you are so perfect that is not necessary and you'll find something insignificant to say I am a problem too.
ReplyDeleteIcing...
ReplyDeleteSuperlegal, please ignore the comment from someone who felt the need to hide behind anonymous posting. I have laughed, cried, and laughed some more while reading your blog. As a litigation paralegal, it's comforting to know I am not alone in my frustration. Please continue to blog as I know I am not the only paralegal out there who reads your blog and thinks wow, do we work in the same office?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that there is absolutely nothing about this blog or author that you like or can tolerate. So why are you here? I realize that you probably can't find a job or anyone willing to listen to your oh-so-superior moralizing (that you do anonymously of course) but that might have something to do with your cowardice and lack of compassion than others' perceived shortcomings. Try taking a breath and acknowledging that not everything that enters your brain has to come out of your mouth (or keyboard) and that others are human once in a while and get frustrated, and then you wouldn't come off as such as ****. Oh I forgot, you are so perfect that is not necessary and you'll find something insignificant to say I am a problem too.
Your anonymous (and apparently AWOL) conscience
Loving the sweet irony of people killing the anonymous commenter anonymously.
ReplyDeleteSuperlegal, try not to let one lone voice overpower the rest of your readership. You do good work here, and I hope you can continue in spite of comments like that.
Superlegal - I am posting under my real name as well. Anonymous just does not get it and clearly has issues of his/her own. You are not being intolerable. You had a bad day. We all have one and if Anonymous thinks that does not happen then clearly Anonymous a) does not work or b) is a complete cad. PLEASE don't stop writing. We need people like you to counter the Anonymous people out there. You are better than him/her. Don't let him/her win!!!
ReplyDeleteSuperlegal, if you blawg, there are gonna be haters. I've had horrific comments left at posts - and worse - since starting my own blog and peeps *do* know where I work :(
ReplyDeleteHang in there. We all have terrible days - and all bloggers have haters. But blogging should be mostly pleasurable and a creative outlet, so if you love it, don't let the haters get you down.
Ignore STUPID people.
ReplyDeleteI have been a litigation paralegal for many many years. I have bad days...some eerily similar to some of your posts. However, I have good days too, very good days. There are days when I absolutely love what I do. Days when I feel like I've made a difference. I am new to your blog and while I have had some serious chuckles while reading it, maybe you could post about the good stuff sometime. I'm betting you could fill this space with stories of trial incidents and righting a few of the wrongs of the world...as I know I could. Wishing you all the best,
ReplyDeleteJulie D. Hunt, CP
So, even if SL says some items that are amusing and interesting on occassion, which of course might be why the anonymous poster was here, when the over all tone is read as anonymous read it, it is a fair question. And really, if you read half a dozen or more posts, SL does sound like she is burnt out because she never says anything positive about anyone else or her work environment. But, y'all can hate the person who points out the emperor has no clothes. . .
ReplyDelete