I sorta feel bad... [from a while back]

…but I sorta don’t.

Guy from one of our cases at trial just called me for the 2nd time today. The first time he called (only an hour and a half ago) I give him the cell phone number that is the contact number for those clients. Now he is calling back because he hasn’t heard from them. (What’s fucking new, right?)

Really? It’s been less than 2 hours. Did it ever cross your mind, sir, that they are IN COURT, RIGHT NOW, ALL DAY? Did it ever occur to you, sir, that we are still within normal business hours and that it would be safe to assume that they are BUSY? (P.S. that is the root word of “business”, as in “We are BUSY during BUSINESS hours.”)

I gently suggested some of these possibilities (“Well, sir, I would assume that they are in court right now, and they will return your call when they check the voice messages from the phone”). And what do you think was his response? (Don’t worry, here comes the FUN part.)

“Well I just figured that only the attorneys would be in court. I figured that the ladies would be able to answer the phone. You know, I figured the ladies wouldn’t be in trial.”

Please note the italicization. It took EVERY. CELL. IN MY BODY. To keep from losing my brain at him. Maybe most people don’t see that as sexist, because, truly, the 2 attorneys are men, and the 2 paralegals are, in fact, “ladies”. But JUST because they are LADIES doesn’t mean that you should simply refer to them as “ladies” (ESPECIALLY if you are going to refer to the men as “attorneys”, not “the men”). Also, consider the fact that he assumes that just because these women are not attorneys, that they will (a) not be in court and (b) will be there to answer his phone calls a.k.a. cater to him.

He then proceeds to complain to me (the freakin receptionist) about how he is facing disciplinary action at work because he’s already taken time off for the deposition, and now he knows he has to take time off for the trial itself, but because he can’t give his job advanced notice, they are getting pissy.

I feel bad about his job, I truly do, this economy sucks and that’s not a fun situation. But on the same token, you are continuing to berate someone (ME) who has ALREADY TOLD YOU what you can do to solve this matter, and that she herself cannot help you, nor can anyone else currently in the office. You need to CALL THE OTHER NUMBER and LEAVE A BLOODY MESSAGE.