Take this job ... (etc.)

April 14, 2003 - 10:34 p.m.

Last Five Entries:
The Party's Over
July 11, 2004
The Next Day
2004-03-31
My Nervous Breakdown
2004-03-30
True Confessions: My Life as a Female Impersonator
March 15, 2004
Bite Me
February 29, 2004

Contact:

I formerly had a diary on DiarlyLand. Apparently, I neglected it so long that it was deleted. That's fine, because what happens when you leave your real name on your diary is that guys you knew in high school Google you and read stuff you didn't intend for them.

Perhaps I am an emotional exhibitionist, because here I am writing an online diary again.

I'm going to quit my job tomorrow. Isn't that a fun thing to do in a bad economy? The truth of the matter is, it's part-time, I really wasn't making a lot of money, and the thing has just become way too stressful for me.

I initially left the practice of law for many reasons, but one of the foremost was that it was just too stressful. It seems to be just as stressful even only part time. Though the office atmosphere really contributes to the stress. I have been asked way too many times to come to a last-minute rescue because no one is watching the deadlines and conflicts on their calendars.

For example, I walk into the office today. The attorney for whom I work- we're not using real names here, let's call him Decker- is out of town on vacation all week. Nothing wrong with that, he deserves it. After I had been there an hour, staff finally get around to telling me that he needs for me to cover a trial for him while he's on vacation. This particular trial happens to be tomorrow, by the way, in a case I have never heard of, in an area of law which I have never practiced.

As it turns out, he's known about the schedule conflict for a while. Apparently, he got around to thinking about what he was going to do about it on Friday, and the answer was to send me in. Being part-time, only in the office on Mondays and Wednesdays, I wasn't there Friday. He didn't bother to call me Friday, to give me the preparation time, or to even ask if I would be available on Tuesday.

I do have things that I do on days when I'm not in the office, such as working on being a full-time graduate student, with many papers due this month at the end of the semester, and classes on days such as Tuesdays.

But on top of that, despite how easy the case is supposed to be, I know nothing about it, and I have never done a case like it. This is just inviting a spectacular screw-up.

And, I've covered quite a few hearings for Decker. Almost every one was a hearing which he didn't get around asking me to do until the day before, and almost every one of those was more complicated than he told me before I went in. And I have covered those cases, and every time afterward, I have told him that I did it for him this time, but in the future I need more notice.

This is just the latest in a series of problems which often revolve around the fact that Decker gives me nothing to do while I'm at the office, but when I'm not at the office, he needs me for the deadline / emergency on which he has been sitting for weeks.

This is what one might call bullshit.

Of course, I could really screw Decker by not doing the case. I have absolutely no contractual obligation to the client, no duty to the court since my name isn't associated with the case, and no duty to Decker given the schedule to which we had agreed for me. Other attorneys and well-wishers alike have advised me that the best course would be to just say no. But that wouldn't be fair to the client, and I'm not out to screw anybody. So I will struggle mightily tomorrow, afterward leave a letter indicating that I will be terminating my association with the firm, and then I will never see the office again.

I wrote the kiss-off letter tonight. And despite stressing over the trial tomorrow, I felt a brief release from the burdens of the world after taking that act to severe my ties with that firm.

Luckily for me I don't have any ongoing duties with the firm, and I can easily break my association now rather than giving a lot of notice. Added to my end-of-semester stress, that office was almost driving me to go shopping to see what handgun would best fit in my mouth.

What will I do about all of my financial obligations? As always, I will figure that out later.

Sometimes parting is sweet sorrow. I think that in this case, parting will just be sweet.