Rantings from My Desk in Pajamas Part 1

Who are they?  They are those who believe that no one has anything to do except worry about them...and they are so incessantly obnoxious about it that it warrants a rant, a rave (but not in the good kind), and perhaps a little public shaming.  I'm a lawyer, I deal with obnoxious people all the time, but somehow this one takes the cake.....I think?

So, I have a client (I know shocking), and they got into a little bit of a scuffle with one of their previous clients.  Fine, no big deal, happens all the time....especially in my world.  So, I find out about this on Tuesday at about 3pm from my client....no big deal.  We talk on the phone, discuss the issue, yada yada yada, we decide I should talk to the other side's lawyer.

I get an e-intro (via email) and am thinking we will talk the next day, as the e-intro takes place at 5pm Tuesday.....nope Ms. I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO WITH MY LIFE (who at this point by the way I think is very pleasant and just wants to start the conversation...but the title is deserving) decides we should talk that day, and we schedule a call for 6pm....fine....this is where it gets oh so bad.

For those of you non-lawyers, usually you start conversations with a brief overview of the case at hand, where you see things and go forward from there.  This conversation started with a 45 minute lecture on why her client is right and mine is in for a world of hurt.  Happy Tuesday evening.

It then progressed to 3 emails the next day with the last one stating "Since we spoke, I have sent you three e-mails regarding this case and have not received a response or acknowledgement for any of them."  Those three took place in less than 24 hours since our first conversation.  Now, maybe I'm crazy, but I don't watch my email inbox for emails from this lady, and I don't believe I have a requirement of less than 24 hour response times....especially when they don't pay my bills...just make larger ones for my clients.  Some times things take precedence (shocker that I have other things to do), and sometimes, I'm going to delay my response just cause you pissed me off.

So, being the quiet, patient, overly nice person that I am...I responded as follows:

"While your unrelenting dedication to this case is inspiring, I cannot always respond on the same day an email is sent.  I apologize that it has taken me nearly twenty-four hours to respond since your first email.  I will also be out of the office today, and therefore will not respond to any correspondence before tomorrow.  I appreciate your professional courtesy in this matter."

I wonder if she caught my sarcasm?  Mind you, this was instead of the following choices 1. Not responding at all; 2. Telling her to get a life with four letter explicitives; and 3.  Indicating that I won't respond unless under court order....ahh the joys.

Shockingly or not, none of her emails have since been nearly as demanding or as over the top....and exchanges have been on a much more professional level.

So, there you have it...rantings from my desk in pajamas.

Long time since posting

So, Sharona has been doing the publishing on this little blog, and it a little searching I realized that 1. I have done very little; 2. She is much more ambitious with her online profiles (namely multiple of them) and I should learn from her; 3. I really hate routine (shocker I know); and 4. I should blog more.

Why you ask?  Well, I will tell you....because I have all sorts of philosophical questions that need parsing and while my wife, as dear and sweet as she is, does indulge me, I feel bad forcing her to banter about the weird and ridiculous notions that fly between my ears.  Also, I have been accused by more than one person as not being very expressive, so maybe blogging will help with that?  Not to mention, that if you are reading this blog, well, I'm not sure what to say about you..but thank you regardless!

So, what has been running through my brain as of late, more than I can summarize, but I will attempt to list some things on this little blog that have happened in my life and things that may happen sometime in the future.

As many or none of you may know, I run my own business, a law firm.  And it has done a wonderful job of providing me with opportunities, given me the flexibility and freedom that I so desire, and above all that, it provides me with a decent paycheck...go figure.  It was started with what some may argue is hard work, a lot of patience, a lot of spiritual reflection and expression (may be interpreted as thought and prayer), and a whole lot of luck (we won't talk about what luck really is, but I may have an argument that it is an answer to prayer).   Anyways, after the last...almost 5 years (I know, crazy right?) I was thinking I needed an change.  So, I wondered what that change would be and how it would come about...and I still don't know..but I went down a windy path.

I started looking at merging my firm with other firms.....that seemed interesting....afterall, new environment, more people around me to bounce ideas off of, potential for cross-polination, all that bigger and better stuff....so I interviewed with a bunch of firms. (Wow that is a long sentence). And of course, I had a few siblings doing the whole interview thing, so why wouldn't I? After interviewing with 4 or 5 firms, all of them expressed an interest in my practice and what I do.  But in the end....none of them seemed like the right fit.  Either too little money, the feeling of being more of an employee and less of a partner, or the notion of not being able to take vacation when I wanted to just seemed like an odd mix of not enough benefit for the negatives.

In the end, after a few months of checking out other firms, Erika and I decided that it would be best to pass on the merger idea...what's next?  I don't know...for now, I'll stick with the firm and see where it takes me.  Afterall, I have some great clients, and not too bad of a work/life balance.
More to come...hopefully.