nin137

"Fuck you, Pay me"

when my good friend dave spent a couple of days cleaning up
the highway as part of his probation he relayed the most
interesting encounter to me. apparently, amongst the
illustrious criminals was a man who had "fuck you, pay me"
tattooed on his knuckles.
if you think about it...that kind of limits your job
opportunities. actually, it kind of limits a lot of your
opportunities. i mean imagine passing the mashed potatoes
to your father-in-law with that tatoo. hm.
well one part of that tattoo that i appreciate is that that
man knows what's up.
apparently law firms that i interview with don't.

so i'm still drudging the job market for a summer job. i've
been doing interviews here and then, but the last three
(including the one yesterday) have had the odd habit of
ending with a "project".
very simply, the interview always seems to wind down with
the interviewer giving me some facts and asking me if i'd
like to research the legal issue.
no joke.
the first one to do this asked me if i could research the
legal possibilities of a takeover maneuver of a board of
directors of a CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION...yeah that's right.
i sat there wondering what the fuck he had just asked me to
do when the next logical question entered into my head.
am i getting paid for this shit? i waited as he explained
it feeling hopeful that he'd drop the percent i'd get on
this project...no dice.
so finally he ended with,
"so is that something you'd be interested in doing?"
i shifted uncomfortably in my seat,
"when i start here?"
"now."
"um...seems interesting."
he was staring at me...what was he dense?
"probably."
he sighed, looked behind himself and said that we'd be in
touch...apparently probably was not the job-getting answer.

the second one was even crazier. it was this immigration
attorney who asked me (with a somewhat disconcerting
urgency) as to whether i could research for her if she had
violated the code of professional responsbility by charging
a contingency fee in a civil matter which turned into a
criminal defense case.
i told her straight off that she was (i was taking
professional responsibility that semester), but she insisted
that i make a thorough investigation.
once again i sat there waiting for her to cut me off a piece
of the cheddar, but she kept quiet.
"so is that something you could do for me?"
"sure i'd make that my first priority if i start here."
she glared at me,
"i meant over the weekend, could you do it and get back to me."
now, mind you, i had no assurance i would be hired or that i
would get paid so i kind of stared at her for a while seeing
if i could call her bluff...no dice.
once again i declined and once again i didn't get the job.

i just have a problem with doing something for free and i
was starting to get weary of these self-dealing projects
when, of course, yesterday i was asked to do some more
research for this guy i had just interviewed with.
the one difference was that this guy was pretty cool,
otherwise i would have just walked out at that point.
"so i would need someone to research the scope of waiver of
the fifth amendment privilege in a civil proceeding."
i sat there, screaming inside.
"i'd pay you $60 an hour for it, completely billable, just
don't have the time myself."
see now how hard was that?
"sure."
now i'm reseearching the topic wondering if i jsut got a
job. i have no idea whether i did or not, all i know is
that this monday morning i'm turning this in...guess we'll see.

buncha free-loading parasites.