Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Comic Relief 101

Let me share a recent conversation between me and one of my attorneys.

SETTING THE SCENE: Someone was in the conference room that this attorney and his fellow attorneys had reserved, and so for a few minutes, the 4 of them were all standing around my desk waiting for the previous meeting, which was quite obviously going long, to disperse.
Him: Hey, Melanie, why don’t you go knock on that door and clear the room for us?

Me: What? Are you scared of kicking them out of the room? Come on. You can do it. You attorneys thrive on conflict and confrontation. You live for it. That’s why you became a lawyer, isn’t it? You know it’s true.

Him: How prejudicial of you? I can’t believe you just said that. [He paused for a moment, and I could tell his brain was churning and that I was about to be dinged.]

Him: Saying that every lawyer likes conflict is like saying that every legal assistant is helpful!

Me: OUCH! [laughing] I didn’t see that one coming.
I've heard him repeat our conversation at least 3 times now. He sure is awfully proud of himself for that comeback.

Welcome to my world! This is just part of our daily banter in the IP (Intellectual Property) Section of the Legal Department, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It keeps me guessing and laughing even while under tremendous stress from approaching deadlines or immense pressure from the insurmountable stacks of paperwork attacking my desk. Ahhhh...what would we do without comic relief? I know that I'm rather thankful for it.

1 comment:

Barbara said...

lol I love this! What a great comeback. I'm sure he really is proud of himself, and for good reason. :)