Another QueerJoe Gross Generalization
In my experience, lawyers are some of the most obnoxious, boorish people on the planet.
As With Any Generalization…
…there are a number of exceptions. Carol and her husband, for instance, are both lawyers and perfectly non-boorish people.
My latest brush with the annoying population came during my lunch break from jury duty last week.
Since my jury duty took place in the county seat of my county, it’s no surprise that I’d run into a lawyer or two. At lunch, I went to a small sandwich shop that had a little bit of seating. When I got there, there was a group of eight people that had pulled together a couple of tables, and were clearly in the process of having a business lunch. After a very brief period of time, I was able to easily determine the group of eight were lawyers, many if not all partners in a local firm. I could tell this because the main (most obnoxious) man in the group, who was leading the meeting, was discussing their firm’s business in a voice loud enough so everyone in the sandwich shop could hear.
When they started discussing personnel issues of the staff at their firm, I started to get uncomfortable. I now have a complete run down of all the partners’ secretaries in the firm, their responses to a “confidential” survey of their thoughts on working for the firm, and their likelihood of being let go for various performance issues.
I couldn’t help but ask myself a few questions. Did the meeting leader not realize the whole shop could hear their conversation? Did he not care? Did he not think it was completely inappropriate to be discussing these issues in a public forum? Did not one of his sycophantic drones have balls enough to ask him to stop, or minimally to speak more quietly?
I considered pretending to fall and hurt myself in the store to try and get one of their business cards so I could call and chat with the secretaries I now knew so much about, but I figured it wouldn’t help anything.
Current Knitting
I was able to finish the last sleeve of the colorblock cardigan.
I will spend some of my weekend knitting time sewing up this garment, and starting on the button band and the collar. I won’t be doing anything exotic, so it should go relatively quickly.
Based on some inspiration of Mel comments on a knitting list, I decided to try my hand at a felted cat toy with my Araucania remnants. Here’s what I came up with.
I’ll test it out with little Nico later today to see if it was a success.
Blog Error
Friend Liza wrote to inform me that the Texas man who I wrote about in my last blog entry was given a life sentence in prison…not a death sentence.
I’m much less disturbed by this, but I was still glad to read all your responses to this.
In California, one of the things they teach at “Bridging the Gap” seminars for new lawyers who have just passed the bar exam, is that you NEVER talk about confidential matters in public places where you can be overheard (elevators, restaurants, parks. etc.) or even take a phone call from a client in your own office if another client is present. Evidently “your” lawyer was out to lunch when that lecture was given. I’d have tried to get his name, so that I could be sure never to engage him or his firm to represent me!
perhaps a friendly letter to the local bar association would be in order. if you can name names (lawyers, that is), so much the better.
Joe, I work for attorneys. Yes, most of them ARE like that. The ones I work for, fortunately, are not, or I wouldn’t work for them. This was an incredibly stupid move on the part of the meeting leader, as anyone could have overheard him and repeated what was said to any one of the secretaries. Never say in public what you wouldn’t want to be made public…
The colorblock sleevs look gorgeous, I can’t wait to see the finished sweater.
Another annoying thing about lawyers is the way they nitpick everything one says. For example, while you said that Tom and I are “perfectly non-boorish,” I couldn’t help but note you didn’t say were were “non-obnoxious”…
If you ever come over to Reading Berkshire do not pop into Carluccios for lunch .It is near the courts and it only needs a gathering of four lawyers to fill the whole place with the sound of pomposity. We sometimes pop in to the take out section and I have to let Jeff pay or I’d shout “Shout the **** up” .
Not very clever, I agree, to hold a confidential meeting in a sandwich shop. Love those sleeves, can’t wait to see the finished cardigan.
I don’t see what the behavior you observed in the sandwich shop has to do with their being lawyers.
CMS
“I considered pretending to fall and hurt myself in the store to try and get one of their business cards so I could call and chat with the secretaries I now knew so much about, but I figured it wouldn’t help anything.”
Sorry Dude! I would in a heartbeat. Ball-less bastards. I did something similar when I worked in an investment banking firm. Some equal miserable specimen, MBA not JD, thought he’d share some dirt. And I passed it to the women and men he thought were sleeping together.
HAH! He never gossiped about anybody in the that firm again.
How did Nico like his cat toy?
(Anybody remember Steve Martin: “$3000 worth of cat toys! Sure, they’re fun…”)
Can’t help but comment on this issue. I worked as a Director of Operations for a small non-profit in New Jersey. Every Monday morning the company president would have a meeting at the local eatery. Present were HER, the president, and me and the other Director of Operations, we both had different districts. These meetings consisted of every thing we did wrong that week. Free breakfast is one thing but humiliation is another. Neither of us work there now and many of her employees have embezzled thousands of dollars from her. When let go those secretaries will be able to collect unemployment but their reputations will be ruined.