a tale of logic vs. habit vs. evidence
Prologue
I'm sitting in a small conference room (maybe 8x10) in a small town county courthouse. it's hot outside, there's no air conditioning in this little room, and there are 5 other individuals besides myself seated around a table that takes up half of the room. a document is the main focus of the afternoon.
Present Day
a couple rush jobs threw a monkey wrench into my typing schedule this week, and so this morning I ended up turning in a job on the last possible day. the same job from that sweltering courthouse conference room. with much relief I turned it in. after checking that I had reported there was one exhibit to be attached, which I must have shipped last week, I added that last bit of info to my e-mail and the hunch in my shoulders relaxed and disappeared.
a couple hours later I got a phone call from our office.
the exhibit is nowhere to be found.
here's where the confusion and uncertainty descends upon my countenance.
In my past practice, I do not ship exhibits until I am done typing in case I need to refer to something in the exhibit (a spelling, verbatim quote, title, etc.). Sometimes I will ship the exhibit earlier if I know I won't need anything from it or I'm feeling especially confident. THIS exhibit was handwritten and so contained a plethora of punctuational quirks and grammatical woes. Knowing it was quoted frequently during the deposition, I would have held onto it or made a copy for reference so I could ship the original. If the office never got it, and I don't have it, then it's logical I NEVER had it and it wasn't supposed to be attached.
But when we report our jobs, we also have to indicate how many exhibits are going to be attached. When I checked what I reported for this job, I had indicated "1" exhibit to be attached. The evidence indicates that I must have had it for me to report such a thing.
For every job I print out the assignment Notice to take with me. I record spelling confirmations, start and end times, estimate of pages, and any other items of note. I had written and circled "1 ex." which means 1 exhibit. Unfortunately this evidence is inconclusive because it doesn't help me solve my problem.
On the job folder there is a spot to write down the date of the job, the job number, the date it's to be turned in and when the exhibits were shipped. I always note the day I should ship exhibits, just as a helpful reminder so they get shipped on time. Sometimes I fill out out this data beforehand so it's done and I don't have to worry about it. For this job I had the date written down any exhibits should be shipped, but in the instance I may have written this down ahead of time, it doesn't necessarily prove anything.
even calling the attorney's office didn't help matters, since the attorney was out and his secretary didn't know. but she okay'ed us to ship the transcripts and if the exhibit becomes an issue, they'll let us know.
*heave big sigh of relief*
<>
a couple hours later I got a phone call from our office.
the exhibit is nowhere to be found.
here's where the confusion and uncertainty descends upon my countenance.
In my past practice, I do not ship exhibits until I am done typing in case I need to refer to something in the exhibit (a spelling, verbatim quote, title, etc.). Sometimes I will ship the exhibit earlier if I know I won't need anything from it or I'm feeling especially confident. THIS exhibit was handwritten and so contained a plethora of punctuational quirks and grammatical woes. Knowing it was quoted frequently during the deposition, I would have held onto it or made a copy for reference so I could ship the original. If the office never got it, and I don't have it, then it's logical I NEVER had it and it wasn't supposed to be attached.But when we report our jobs, we also have to indicate how many exhibits are going to be attached. When I checked what I reported for this job, I had indicated "1" exhibit to be attached. The evidence indicates that I must have had it for me to report such a thing.
For every job I print out the assignment Notice to take with me. I record spelling confirmations, start and end times, estimate of pages, and any other items of note. I had written and circled "1 ex." which means 1 exhibit. Unfortunately this evidence is inconclusive because it doesn't help me solve my problem.
On the job folder there is a spot to write down the date of the job, the job number, the date it's to be turned in and when the exhibits were shipped. I always note the day I should ship exhibits, just as a helpful reminder so they get shipped on time. Sometimes I fill out out this data beforehand so it's done and I don't have to worry about it. For this job I had the date written down any exhibits should be shipped, but in the instance I may have written this down ahead of time, it doesn't necessarily prove anything.
even calling the attorney's office didn't help matters, since the attorney was out and his secretary didn't know. but she okay'ed us to ship the transcripts and if the exhibit becomes an issue, they'll let us know.
*heave big sigh of relief*
<>
2 comments:
Just so you know, I worked really, really hard to follow all the details and I think I was successful...mucho stresso!
Oh, and that photo was SO taken from Varnum. I know 'cause I've been there...and it's pretty stinkin' fabulous. Too bad Josh doesn't aspire to join a big-name firm...I'd be going to visit him all the time!
yeah, I knew it would be a bit tedious to read...
and yes! view of 131 & 196 taken from the 17th floor. :)
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