Becky Says...

February 2002

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February 1

I spent a lot of today doing things that I hadn't especially planned to do, but it was a good day, and a lot got done.

I was at the law firm for the afternoon, as usual. By mid-afternoon everyone else was gone, and the phone was being quiet. I took advantage of the quiet time to do some sorting of things in the office kitchen cabinet, and rearranging of where various cords are behind my desk. That was aided by a new toy, a flashlight I got earlier in the week.

Then I came home and had to deal with a private client. Backing up some to make the story make sense: you may recall that I do my best not to do client work on weekends. I have relaxed that a little since I've gone back to the law firm, but only in the sense that if I'm not through with something promised for the following week I will work on it, as time and errands and weekend things permit. I still prize my free time.

One of my clients called last Saturday, and left a message about wanting something typed during the course of this week. He said he'd call later to work it out with me. Since it was Saturday, I didn't sit around waiting for him, or make any attempt to keep the phone line free. I went ahead with my day as I had already planned to do, figuring he'd realize it was a day off for me and leave the work chatter till Monday.

So I've expected to hear from him all this week. For whatever reason, he didn't call until today. The call came while I was at the law firm. He wanted me to call him back tonight. He has two short things he wants typed, and seemed to think that the best way to get me to type them was to read them to me over the phone.

Although I rarely make or take client phone calls at night, either, I decided I would this time. But first, for a few minutes, I needed to ponder. I needed to see how to get him to understand that this was not going to happen the way he suggested. I finally managed to figure out what to say. I decided to tell him that I don't ever type from live dictation, which is true. And to tell him I would welcome what he's always done in the past---send me the handwritten copy and let me fax a draft to him. Of course, I would make any needed changes, then arrange to get the finished work to him.

And finally, I managed to figure out how to say I wanted my weekend to myself. All that was needed for this was to say I would not be available over the weekend.

Oh, by the way, I don't know if this will suit him, because after asking me to give up my night to do the work, he wasn't home when I called. I just told it all to the machine.

Text © copyright 2000-2002 Becky