Blog de Beth

The job story

I'm sure you're all well aware that I've been diligently looking for a job for about a year. And by "diligently," I mean SERIOUSLY looking for a job. I have twenty (yes, 20) job sites that I search on a daily (yes, every day) basis, plus a couple newsgroups that randomly post things. When I apply for a job, I print the posting and date it so I can refer back to it if someone calls me. Yes, I am that organized (read: anal).

Anywho... A couple weeks ago one of the jobs I applied for called me in for an interview. I had my interview last Monday, Jan. 11. I met with the office manager/paralegal/I have no idea what her job title is. We'll call her Susan. During the interview I learn that there are 4 people in the office: the attorney, Susan, Becky, and Lisa (all names have been changed). Susan does the litigation stuff, Becky does the pre-lit stuff, and Lisa is the receptionist and etc. person. Becky is Susan's daughter. In the interview Susan tells me that they are "clique-y" and that's just the way it is. Susan is from upstate New York and has that kind of New York "to the point brusqueness" to her. The interview went well and Susan told me that she was pretty sure I was going to be "the one" but still had a couple more people to meet. A weird thing to say, but okay, whatever. Oh, and the job is part time, no benefits, paying barely more than minimum wage, and they do personal injury cases (auto accidents, mostly).

That Wednesday I sent her an email thanking her for the interview, I'm still interested, yadda yadda yadda. I get an email right back saying, "We enjoyed meeting with you as well. It was a really difficult decision but we did decide to offer the position to another applicant. However, with your permission, I would like to keep your resume on file." (I'm used to getting those rejection emails by now.) So I write her back letting her know of course she can keep my resume on file and wishing her luck.

Thursday afternoon I get a call from Susan. Apparently the person they hired had started that Wednesday and didn't show for work on Thursday with no phone call, no email, no nothing. Susan tells me she didn't think she (Susan) was that mean, but they could tell it wasn't going to be a good fit anyway. Did I still want the job? (Are you really starting to wonder about this place, because I certainly was at this point.) But, a job is a job and I would be making more than I was (which was $0) and it's experience. So I said yes, and we agreed that I'd start Monday, Jan. 18. Yes, it's a holiday, but then it'd be nice and quiet in the office so I could get settled in.

By the end of Monday (well, not really the end, since we left about 1:00) I could understand why the previous person didn't come back. Now, I'm not saying I had a problem, but it was understandable. Susan has been doing this for so long that when trying to explain things, she skips steps. When you add in her to-the-point-brusquness, it's a recipe for frustration. She isn't rude, just quite direct. There was no training, just her rapidly telling me to do things and sending me on my merry way. I had to do a lot of figuring out on my own. So I was just seeing random pieces and trying to understand the big picture at the same time. The whole process of how they handle cases is still an unknown to me. I'm sharing an office with Becky, but she wasn't there on Monday. Susan left before I did and I was chatting with Lisa on the way out. She was bitching about the place in general and how frustrating it is to work there. (Uhhhh.....)

Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of a whirlwind. I felt a little better about things by Wednesday, but it's still mostly a mystery to me. I ask a lot of questions. A LOT of questions. Susan double-checks all my work (which I understand and I'm fine with it). Becky seems nice... I don't know if she's normally reserved, hasn't warmed up to me yet, or just doesn't like me, but she's not very chatty with me. I have to say that as far as teaching me things, Lisa has been awesome! She's my go-to girl if I have any questions. And yes, I understand her frustrations, too.

They've also just "hired" an intern from Phoenix College (I don't know her). So I'll be working Monday, Thursday, Friday, and the intern will be there Tuesday and Wednesday. The typical work day is 8:30-4:00. The interesting thing is that Susan doesn't work Fridays and Becky is only there for a half day. I'm thinking I'll be doing a lot of filing on Friday afternoons. Now let's think about this for a second... Yes, that is indeed a pretty slack work schedule. But speaking of slack, the dress code is casual (YAY!). I *heart* jobs I can wear jeans and capris to. I do, however, have a couple of major issues with the workplace: first, they don't shred anything, and second, there's a lot of advice giving going on. For the first point, no shredding means just throwing out everything. This is a massive breach of client confidentiality. For the second point, the only person that can give a client advice is the lawyer. Becky is giving advice all day. This is known as the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) and is a huge no-no. Both of those points make me really uncomfortable.

So there it is. At this point, I'm still looking at jobs, but only government jobs (cushy stability) or those that seem super-duper interesting and offer benefits. I'm debating if I should put this job on my resume now. I'm just concerned that it will look bad that I just started but I'm still looking for a job. Brad pointed out that it IS experience and people would probably understand my wanting a full-time job with better pay and benefits. What do y'all think?

TMI update

Consider yourself forewarned... If you continue reading, there will be ewey TMI info. Wait, that's redundant. Oh well.

So. Some background. Whenever I get sick I can't sleep. If I try to sleep I wake myself up either with my nose suddenly deciding to let loose the flood gates or because my stomach is upset. The copious amounts of snot draining into my stomach makes me really queasy. REALLY queasy. Usually not to the puking point, but sometimes it does go that far. Especially when I'm coughing, which triggers the gag reflex.

Right now I'm sick. Like, a serious cold, sick. I've been awake for well over 24 hours, about 11-12 of those being spent on the plane from London back home to Phoenix. I'm pretty sure I can honestly say that that flight was the worst time of my life. I can't even begin to tell you how miserable I was. My face felt like it was going to explode for the vast majority of the flight. I went through a bajillion tissues. I got a nosebleed about an hour outside of Phoenix. (With all the dry, recirculated air and nose blowing, it was bound to happen, I suppose.) I was coughing and trying not to hurl. I am never EVER again getting on a plane while I'm sick.

We finally get home, about 5 hours late. We stayed up chatting with my parents for a bit, then called it a night (or morning, as the case may be). Brad is snoring within seconds. I'm sitting here staring at the walls, blowing my nose, coughing, and trying not to hurl. To no avail. So there I am, hurling up snot, and my nose starts dripping blood again. I'm just thinking "you've got to be fucking kidding me!" So I'm puking, dripping blood from the end of my nose, and Brad is snoring and the cat is howling and the dogs are trying to get the cat.

DAMN, IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME!

ps - I hate being sick. srsly

pps - I'm utterly exhausted and there's no sleep in sight. I even took a Tylenol Cold & Flu PM thingy (wishful thinking). That's how much I don't sleep while I'm sick. Which sucks, because my body needs the recuperation time.

ppps - The cat has been yowling this whole time. For hours now. Every time I blow my nose he yowls louder and more excitedly, like he's thinking that means I'm going to go out and pay attention to him. Sorry cat, you're way too far away from the tissues and toilet.

London, night 1

After losing all of my stuff from before, I'm going to break these down into more manageable chunks. Hopefully.

We got our bags with no problem and caught the Tube from Heathrow to our hotel, Premiere Inn Putney Bridge. After getting checked in, we wandered south across Putney Bridge to a pharmacy (Boots) so I could get some decongestant stuff. My "allergies" had been giving me fits for over a week. After that, we took the Tube from the Putney Bridge station to Westminster station. The station lets out basically right across the street from Big Ben. From there we walked across the bridge, walked by the London Eye, then walked back across the Thames on the Millennium Bridge. Forgot to mention that near the Eye there was a fair going on. We got a Christmas pudding with custard. Brad liked it more than I did...it was too "figgy" for me. We then headed into the city and walked to Trafalgar Square. From there we walked up to Piccadilly Circus and wandered around there for a while.

By this point it was getting late and we were getting hungry. We decided to head back to the hotel to avoid the pricey, touristy places in Piccadilly. Back at the hotel, we wandered north on Putney Bridge Approach and decided to stop at Fisher's for some fish and chips. I had the cod and Brad had the haddock (both with chips). It was quite tasty! And their homemade tartare sauce was fantastic! After dinner we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Pictures are here.

Flight to London

It’s now about 11:15 pm, Phoenix time. I’m writing this into a Word file on the airplane because I’m not sure Ecto will actually save my entry while not connected to the internet (I’ve had problems with that before and didn’t want to take any chances this time).

The flight was slightly delayed. Not sure why. It was interesting listening to all the different languages people were speaking as we boarded. We’ve got the row to ourselves; I’ve got the window seat and Brad is sitting in the aisle seat. And OMG is it hotter than on oven in here! I wish I had on a t-shirt and shorts. oof

About 10 seconds after take off, the lady in front of me slammed her seat back and whacked me in the head. A bit later I went to try to get stuff out of my backpack under the seat in front of me and couldn’t because her seat was so far back. Obviously, while trying to retrieve my backpack, I inadvertently hit her seat. She turned around and glared at me. I apologized and she just sniffed at me. I had to wait for her to go to the bathroom so I could get everything out of my backpack that I wanted while she was gone.

The screen in the seat is pretty cool. They have a ton of movies and TV shows to choose from and you can even create your own CD playlist from CDs they have. The most interesting thing on the screen they have is the flight path and random information like how freakin cold it is outside. It’s interesting that it switches between English and Spanish. I was thinking it’d be English and French. As I type this we’re just north of O’Neill, coming up on Sioux Falls, NE.

The wine they served was actually pretty tasty. A French Bordeaux. The dinner was decent. A roll, some lentil and parsley salad (which was actually quite tasty!), icky veggies, mashed potatoes, and a beef something or another. The dessert was some kind of blueberry cake. I can’t wait to see what there is for breakfast!

So on that note, I’m going to stop typing all awkwardly on my laptop with the screen half shut because there’s not room. Going to try to get some sleep. HA!

Backyard Buddies

We've recently had a couple new visitors to our backyard! A squirrel and a lovebird. Quite exciting! (I know, I need to get out more or something.)

Pictures are here. Enjoy!

There are also a couple new ones of the boys.

Northern AZ wines

Over the past couple weekends, Brad and I have done a mini Arizona winery tour. Two weekends ago we went to the Page Springs area and last weekend we went to Jerome. Pictures are posted here.

Page Springs area
We went to three wineries in Page Springs: Javelina Leap Winery, Oak Creek Vineyards, and Page Springs Cellars. We both liked the wines at Javelina Leap and Page Springs. Oak Creek was just kind of "meh;" not horrible, not great. Javelina Leap has a small tasting room and the guy was really nice and explained about the different wines as we were tasting. Oak Creek has a larger tasting room and the lady there was nice, but a bit rushed so she couldn't explain the wines. They also have cheeses to purchase. The tasting room at Page Springs was nice and they have a lovely porch you can hang out on and enjoy glasses of wine. They offer tastings from all their wineries (Page Springs, Stronghold, and Caduceus) which was really nice. The lady there was helpful with the explanations and the pours there are HUGE. They also have another porch area overlooking the river which was really nice.

Jerome area
We went to four wineries in Jerome: Alcantara Cellars, Caduceus Cellars, Bitter Creek Winery (part of the Jerome Winery), and Jerome Winery. All of them had really tasty wines. The tasting room at Alcantara is beautiful and has great views. The lady pouring was nice and explained the different wines to us. Caduceus, Bitter Creek, and Jerome Winery are all in the heart of Jerome. Caduceus is a very modern (for Jerome) tasting room. The servers there weren't all that helpful, but neither were they rude nor ignoring us. Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of Tool, is the owner (for those of you that care). He's also a part of Stronghold. The Bitter Creek Winery tasting room is in an art store. The lady there was nice and talked about the wines. They have a fantastic late-harvest Zinfandel port! The art is really cool, too. The tasting room for Jerome Winery is pretty small. The lady there was a bit rough around the edges, complaining about other coworkers, the other location (Bitter Creek), and really rushing me through the tasting.

All of the tasting rooms charged a fee ($5-$8 for 4-5 different tastings) and you got to keep the glass at a couple of them. If you could do only one area, I'd recommend Page Springs.

The Willcox Wine & Art Festival is October 17-18 and they'll be featuring the southern Arizona wineries. I'm hoping to make it down there for that to check out some more Arizona wines!

Legal Procedures 2 (LAS110)

Before I start this whole series of school stories, here's my Blanket Disclaimer Statement: All events happened pretty much how I'm describing them. Obviously I'm not going to have the exact transcript, but it'll be damn close. There will be NO embellishments or exaggerations.

I hate this class. You probably already figured that out. If I learn anything, it'll be either a coincidence and/or a miracle. We've had 3 class meetings so far this semester. (All my classes meet just once a week.) Here's the saga about our first homework assignment:

Class 1
Teacher: Your first homework assignment will be to create a form that addresses all 9 points stated in Rule 26.1(a) Prompt Disclosure of Information. You won't be answering the 9 questions, just creating the form so the other party can answer them. Any questions? This is due the class after next.
[No one has any questions because no one has read the rule or had the chance to think about it.]
Teacher: Okay, let's get on with the lecture, then.
[The lecture is her using the book publisher's craptastic PowerPoint slides and reading paragraphs straight from the book to us.]

That week I take a look at the rule and start to think out how I'm going to create this form. I can create a form in my sleep. For example, 26.1(a)(3) states: "The names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any witnesses whom the disclosing party expects to call at trial with a fair description of the substance of each witness' expected testimony." So I'm thinking the form would have something like the following:
Name: _____ Address: _____ Phone: _____ Describe what you saw: _____
You get the idea. Coming up with a format for the rest of the form should be just as easy. Since I'm a procrastinator, I don't actually start the assignment. There's plenty of time to do that the day it's due.

Class 2
Teacher: Are there any questions about the homework due next class? You're creating a form using one through nine in Rule 26.1(a).
Me: So for this form, for example, on number 3, we'd type "Name" and have a space and "Address" and have a space, etc.? Just to clarify.
Teacher: No, you're going to have a caption, you can use the one we'll be using for the mock trial or you can make up your own. Then you'll have the form for 26.1(a). Then you'll have the signatory line.
Me: Okay. Right. For the form part we'll format it like a form so the other party can fill it in?
Teacher: No. Your form will be Rule 26.1(a)(1-9).
Me: Uhhh. I'm really confused now. How are we supposed to format the form?
Teacher: Exactly how it's written in the rule. You're not leaving any spaces for answers.
Me: Wait, what?! I thought this was supposed to be a form.
Teacher: It is a form. It's a standard form.
Me: That they don't fill out. So it's a form that they don't fill out?
Teacher: You'll have the caption at the top, then Rule 26.1(a)(1-9), then the signatory line. Just type out the rule verbatim, word for word, and format it like it is in the rule book.
Me: You want us to just retype the rule? (I'm sure I've got a look on my face like I'm pretty sure she needs to lay off the crack before class.)
Teacher: Yes. Verbatim. And don't forget that you'll be graded on grammar and spelling.
Student: So it's more a template guideline thing than a form.
Me: Okay. Just to be clear... You want us to retype all of Rule 26.1(a) and slap it into a pleading template with a caption and the signatory line? (I'm definitely looking at her like she's GOT to be higher than a kite.)
Teacher: Yes. That's due next class. And don't forget to staple the cover sheet to the front before you turn it in!

Seriously. So I found the rule online, copy/pasted it into a pleading template, and I was done. And grading on spelling and grammar. Really?! wtf Yup...learned a lot with that one!

Class 3
Teacher: Okay class, make sure the cover sheet for the assignment is stapled to the front and turn in your homework now.
Many students: Does anyone have a stapler?
Student: Were we actually supposed to sign it or just have the signatory line there?
Teacher: This is just a disclosure form so it'll never get signed. But you won't get points off if you actually signed it.

So then why the hell is there even a signatory line included?! Kill me now.

School characters

Unlike the USA channel, I feel that characters are NOT welcome in my classes. Which, of course, means my classes are littered with them. I'll be posting their stories here along with some thoughts on the classes themselves. Wait, are classes a self? hmmm

The fall lineup of characters:

RollerBitch - She's a klassy lady that participates in softball and roller derby. She's not of petite stature (as I'm sure you can imagine) and wears extremely tight clothes, including very low-cut shirts. She works in a bankruptcy law office. She's in three of my classes. (yay me)

Blurt - She has a comment (usually wrong) for everything and acts like she's carrying on a private conversation with the teacher throughout class. She's in one of my classes.

Tex - He's an older gentleman who is beanpole skinny and wears "country/western" clothes and a cowboy hat and who uses a black roll-aboard to keep his books in. He's in one of my classes.

Ol' Smokey - She is an older lady who, I swear, must smoke AT LEAST a carton a day. She sits there breathing heavily and loudly sighing noxious, stale smoke. She's definitely not the brightest bulb in the bunch. She's in one of my classes.

Little Miss Can't Be Wrong (that's way too long...I'll have to come up with something better) - She has worked in the county prosecutor's office as a legal secretary for years and years and years and knows more than you. No matter who you are (yes, this includes the teacher, who is a lawyer). She's in two of my classes.

Unfortunate Stereotype - The name says it all for her. She's very loud, comments to everything (uh-HUH! you GO girl! Ya know what I'm sayin?!?!), and is generally quite disruptive. She's in one of my classes.

Ego 911 - She's a lady that strives to be the teacher's pet and never quite makes it. She brags about herself all the time, which is ironic because she's REALLY slow on the uptake. She turns a papercut into a medical emergency. She's in one of my classes.

The classes I'm taking this semester are Legal Procedures 2, Family Law, Torts, and Legal Research. The one I'm sure to talk the most about is Legal Procedures 2 for reasons that will become obvious in the next few posts.

So there ya have it. The stories shall commence soon.

Job Hunt

What I've got to say about this is way too long for either twitter or Facebook. So here it is.

I've been actively searching for a job since January. When I apply for a job, I print out the job ad so I can keep track of what I've applied for. This gets me two things: 1) no double applications, and 2) being able to figure out exactly which job it is, and its description, when someone calls me for an interview. I've applied for about 120 jobs since January. I've gotten just a handful of interviews.

In the beginning, I'd apply for just about anything that was reasonably within my skill set. In the past few months, it occurred to me that that approach isn't the best in the long run. What I really need is a foot in the door at a law firm. So now I'm only applying for jobs at law firms. I'm absolutely fine starting at the bottom just to get the experience. Also, since this is a career change, it's only realistic that I start at the bottom.

And speaking of experience... I'm sure other people are having this same problem. All the jobs are asking for 4-10 years previous experience. HELLO?! How the hell am I supposed to get experience if you're only going to hire an experienced person?! It's quite frustrating. But in this market, employers can pretty much ask for, and get, whatever they want.

Another aspect I'm wondering about for finding a job is the area of law a firm or attorney practices that I'd want to be a paralegal in. I've spoken with a few people and they tell me that most of their attorney friends HATE being attorneys. I spoke a little with another attorney about why that is. He suggested that upon graduating from law school, people pretty much take the first job they can get because they have all the student loans looming over them. While, for example, they may not really like bankruptcy, they take a bankruptcy job just to get some income, thinking they can laterally move to family (or whatever) later on. However, once you start in a particular area, it's really really hard to move out of that area. So then you get lots of attorneys practicing an area of law they don't like just because they got pigeon-holed into it. The theory makes sense. So taking that into account, should I then only be applying for jobs at firms or with attorneys that practice an area of law I'm interested in so I don't get pigeon-holed into an area I can't stand? Unfortunately, that would REALLY limit my job options.

It's all just so frustrating and depressing.

Fall classes

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, so I figured I'd regale y'all with my class schedule this fall. I'm taking all night classes in HOPES of having a job by then. (That's not looking so good...)

Monday - LAS110 - Civil Procedures II
Tuesday - LAS217 - Family Law
Wednesday - LAS212 - Tort Law
Thursday - LAS211 - Legal Research

Two of the classes will be at the downtown campus and the other two at the main Phoenix College campus. The Family Law class is an elective and the rest are required.

If you're curious about other classes offered in the program, you can check them out here.