casual observation

I have a confession to make. I love secretaries. No, not in that way, you perverts. I just unabashedly adore the support staff at my firm. Most of the ladies who work here put in tremendously long hours...some even rivaling the time put in by their own bosses. And what thanks do they get? A small Christmas present if they're lucky. Certainly not the respect that they deserve.

I just don't get it. Their whole purpose here is to help us. To keep this place running. And truthfully, this firm would not function without them. They bend over backwards getting motions and briefs out the door and filed on time, even though the usual cause of panic and urgency is due to the responsible attorney's having procrastinated until the last possible second to get the work done. They don't even receive so much as a simple "thank you" from the majority of the lawyers here. They are berated and used and ignored. Treated as second class. Asked to endure the wrath of angry attorneys, constipated by their own world of stress.

It disgusts me.

Many of these women are my friends. I know about their families. I share stories of my own life with them. That, my friends, is apparently a big faux pax in this legal world in which I exist. I just don't understand why. I've had three different secretaries since I first began work here as a summer clerk. Each of those women knew how valuable they were to me. How? Because I told them. I told them what a help they were, and how I would never be able to get anything done without them. I showed them. It's amazing how far flowers, a simple sign of gratitude can go.

I see my fellow associates being slowly groomed into the indifferent partners that have found a home in these halls for years and it scares me. They're starting to believe that they're better. That somehow our three years of law school education has rocketed them to heights so far beyond that of the secretaries, that it's ok to pretend they aren't even here. I find myself trying to make up for every other attorney in this firm by sending extra warmth and gratitude to any secretary with whom I come into contact.

So what's my angle? What do I get out of it? Why do I waste my time?

It certainly isn't because I want them to do more for me. They do enough as it is. Though I will say that unlike other attorneys in my firm, I know damn well that I could go to any secretary here in a time of need and they would gladly go to the ends of the earth to help me out. But that's not the reason. The reason is so simple it sounds ridiculous.

They are people, they deserve respect for the job that they do, and they are my friends.