Girl and City

Working at a law firm can be unexpectedly depressing. Because, you really only need a lawyer when something’s wrong.
All day long, I receive calls from clients who want to divorce someone, or remove someone from their will, or sue someone, and with each call, I lose a little faith in the human race.

On my way to work this morning, I heard a homeless plan singing “What a Wonderful Life” in a coarse, slightly off-tune voice, and it’s been stuck in my head all day.

“So… my fiancee called off the engagement a week before the wedding. Do I have to return the ring? He threatened to sue me if I don’t return the ring. Can he do that?”
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

“I defaulted on my loans now the bank wants to seize my assets. Can I just move away?”
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

“My wife is in the process of applying for citizenship. If I divorce her, will that affect her application? Also, will she have any rights over my assets if she is not a citizen/permanent resident?”
The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you.

“I would like to remove my wife and youngest son from my will. Can you draft the changes?”
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.

The weather was perfect on Saturday. OBF and I met downtown for lunch at a fancy restaurant that I’d been looking forward to since I’d started following the chef on Twitter. Unfortunately, the meal was a horrendous disappointment, but OBF and I had a surprisingly good afternoon of bonding.

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Case in point.

I am such a dog person that I refuse to befriend cat people. So if you’re a cat person, don’t tell me. I will just write you off as crazy and never speak to you again¹.

1. Ok, that’s a lie. But I do think cat people are crazy. [↩]

Canada Day was celebrated without too much fanfare. During the day, my parents and I went to dim sum at a restaurant (more like diner) that specialized in steamed dumplings.

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Today was my first actual day of work at LawyerMan’s office.

It was insane.

This is a one-lawyer office with two assistants, not including me. When I arrived at 8:50 this morning, the older assistant sat me in her comfy swivel chair, told me I would be using her computer, and logged me in. She shares the office with a younger assistant, but she has a much bigger desk and faces a huge window.
This was pretty sweet, or so I thought.

After I logged in and familiarized myself with their email system, the older assistant went to help the younger assistant. They spent all morning closing some deal, so I had to field all her calls and emails.
She gets a lot of fucking calls, let me tell you.

And not only did I not receive any orientation, other than being logged into her Outlook, I had to handle all these Chinese clients, because it’s a bilingual office.
Now, my Chinese is passable in conversational settings, but I don’t know any law or even professional jargon. And most of these clients were either old, or anal, or both. By my fourth phone call, I had been verbally harassed twice. There were these two particular clients who kept calling and just screaming and cursing into the phone. In Chinese! If it wasn’t so absolutely terrifying, it would have been pretty hysterical.
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