These days, most of the young attorneys do their own typing. Legal secretaries who work for these young fellas end up typing letters and sometimes discovery. There’s a reason for this. Back when I started working for attorneys, there was no such things as PC’s, MAC’s or scanners. Nobody had their own computer. Spell check? What’s that? Larger law firms had word processing departments. These departments had massive amounts of typing and proofing to do. IBM actually had repairmen that would come and fix your word processing equipment when it broke down.
But back when I started working for attorneys (it’ll be 30 years next August), most older attorneys didn’t even know how to type. These folks are mostly retired or have passed away by now. Not many of them around anymore.
Several years ago I worked for an older attorney who was in his 70’s when I started working for him and I worked there 6 ½ years. He had a rule that no attorney could even have a computer in his office. The girls working for him did all the typing. When he decided to retire, I decided to look for another job. He was a good boss. He paid well, each girl had their own office, he left us alone to do our job but was there for us if we needed help.
I gave two weeks notice and he started looking for my replacement. He found a girl that he thought could do the job. I began training her. She’d been there about three days and was catching on pretty well. I asked her if she thought she was gonna like it there. She said, “Yes but I don’t like your keyboard. There’s no letters on it.” I looked down. Sometime within the 6 ½ years I’d been there, I’d worn off all the letters on the keyboard. I hadn’t even noticed it! Hmmmmmmmmmmmm……..well, I love to type. You could put me in the corner with a typewriter and the Betty Crocker Cookbook, tell me to type it, and I’d be a happy camper. If you’re a good typist, typing is second nature. Like reaching for the volume button to the radio in your car…you don’t even need to look down. It doesn’t matter if you have letters on the keyboard or not. But I didn’t think about all that when I looked down at those blank keys. I just felt sorry for her and even a little guilty for wearing off the keys so I told her I’d go check with the boss about getting a new keyboard for her. I jumped up and went to his office and told him what was going on. He said, “What? Well, if she needs to see letters on the keyboard to be able to type, she obviously can’t type and can’t do the job.” He jumped up, walked around me and proceeded to go to my office while I’m following on his heels. He said to her, “Hey, you can’t type. You can’t do the job. You’re fired.” Then he just walked out. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. She looked at me….I looked at her……she started to cry….I started to cry. We had this little pity party while I helped her pack her stuff up and leave. YOUCH.
But back when I started working for attorneys (it’ll be 30 years next August), most older attorneys didn’t even know how to type. These folks are mostly retired or have passed away by now. Not many of them around anymore.
Several years ago I worked for an older attorney who was in his 70’s when I started working for him and I worked there 6 ½ years. He had a rule that no attorney could even have a computer in his office. The girls working for him did all the typing. When he decided to retire, I decided to look for another job. He was a good boss. He paid well, each girl had their own office, he left us alone to do our job but was there for us if we needed help.
I gave two weeks notice and he started looking for my replacement. He found a girl that he thought could do the job. I began training her. She’d been there about three days and was catching on pretty well. I asked her if she thought she was gonna like it there. She said, “Yes but I don’t like your keyboard. There’s no letters on it.” I looked down. Sometime within the 6 ½ years I’d been there, I’d worn off all the letters on the keyboard. I hadn’t even noticed it! Hmmmmmmmmmmmm……..well, I love to type. You could put me in the corner with a typewriter and the Betty Crocker Cookbook, tell me to type it, and I’d be a happy camper. If you’re a good typist, typing is second nature. Like reaching for the volume button to the radio in your car…you don’t even need to look down. It doesn’t matter if you have letters on the keyboard or not. But I didn’t think about all that when I looked down at those blank keys. I just felt sorry for her and even a little guilty for wearing off the keys so I told her I’d go check with the boss about getting a new keyboard for her. I jumped up and went to his office and told him what was going on. He said, “What? Well, if she needs to see letters on the keyboard to be able to type, she obviously can’t type and can’t do the job.” He jumped up, walked around me and proceeded to go to my office while I’m following on his heels. He said to her, “Hey, you can’t type. You can’t do the job. You’re fired.” Then he just walked out. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. She looked at me….I looked at her……she started to cry….I started to cry. We had this little pity party while I helped her pack her stuff up and leave. YOUCH.
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