Okay, I gotta b!tch to someone and my husband is in the middle of an 18 hour rotation. So, he not only doesn't care right now, when he gets home, he'll probably roll his eyes and go to bed.

The attorney's in my office have been in court the better part of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And I suspect they will be back about the same times today. They get back to the office about 3:00 - 4:00 and keep me running until almost 6:00. I don't mind this. This is what I signed up for. Until they get back I don't have much to do except play on the games sites, shoot the crap with the other people in the office and come here.

Well, yesterday afternoon just after lunch, that changed. I received a phone call from someone in one of the other branches in the city. This call is from the office manager of that branch. She tells me that a little over a month ago, she made a decision to allow her best friend's 13 year daughter come into the office and do small things like make copies, make coffee, clean the kitchen, go around and make sure light are turned off in offices not in use, take lunch orders and call to place them, write down the names of visitors and clients who come into the office if the receptionist is busy, dusting, straightening and small things like that.  (Okay, not a big deal. I would have liked to have been informed of this first, but whatever.) This isn't a paid job and it is more to keep the little girl from being home alone while her mother is at work.

Anyway, it became apparent that the little girl got bored quite easily if there was nothing for her to do so the office manager asked the file room clerk to let the girl punch holes in documents for tack-down preparation. Well, the rule is that only COPIES get hole punched. If there is an original without a copy, a copy is made immediately and the original is placed on a cardboard backing with two sided removable tape and the backing is hole punched leaving the integrity of the original document intact. The file clerk did not feel that he needed to "micro manage" such as simple task so, after a few times checking her progress, the clerk left the little girl alone and concentrated on more pressing matters. After a while, the girl said that all docs were done. The file clerk said to go ahead and place the docs in the prongs. Again, he didn't feel it neccesary to check the girl's work since the docs were in the correct files and in their appropriate places already and really just needed to be tacked down.

Well, the file that the little girl was working on that day was picked out of the file cabinet by the file clerk to prep for court on Monday. As he was going through the file, he found that there was an original that was ELMER GLUED to a backing and the two hole punch was made at the bottom of the backing and the document placed in the file upside down.

The file clerk then decided to look in a couple of other files, he knew the girl had worked on and found that documents had been taken from one section and placed in another. (correspondance was placed with motions)

The file clerk went to the office manager who contacted me to find out what to do. So, instead of lunch, I went to the other branch and took a look at the damage. Uh-Oh, too late, the attorney for the case got his little paws on the file and was in the middle of a MAJOR SCREAM-FEST.

It turns out that the original document was a certified copy of the client's birth certificate (it could have been so much worse) and was easily replaced by sending the file clerk to the city vital records office with a notorized request for another birth certificate. We have the client sign a request for records after we agree to take the case. The damaged birth certificate was removed and the new one added. The file was fixed and the attorney, while not thrilled, was at least not red in the face any longer.

This left the matter of the other files the 13 year old girl worked on that day and subsequent days. I contacted the per diem receptionist, asked her to come in and answer phones for the remainder of the day. I had the regular receptionist, the file clerk and the office manager go through every file in the file drawers, starting with the ones the file clerk was 75-100 percent positive were compromised, and fix them to firm specifications. I called the 13 year old's mother and had her come pick up the child and told them that the girl could not be in the office any longer. (The mother got pissy, but you know what? I am running a law firm not a babysitting service).

Then, I went back to my office. By this time, it was close to 5:00 and my attorneys were hounding the secretaries and legal assistants for items connected to their cases. They weredoing very well and stated they had everything under control and that it looked like I wanted to smack someone upside the head. (Yeah, well I did)

The lead attorney asked me what was wrong and I told him waht had happened at the other branch. HE WAS LIVID!!!!!!!!! He advised me to sit downwhile it was fresh in my mind, write an email to my boss in corporate and save it in draft. Then in the morning re-read it and make sure that I had included everything then send it. Well, I did this with a CC to myself, the lead attorney at that branch, the lead attorney in my branch and the office manager at that branch.

Then, I sent a pizza to that branch with a thank you note to the receptionist and file clerk for their assistance in fixing the files. I DIDN'T include the office manager on the thank you note.

The office manager called me and proceeded to tell me that I was insensitive and I should have thanked her for her help in the file room as well. Personally, I don't think I needed to and said so as well as that the whole situation was directly related to her allowing a child in to the office and giving said child responsibilities above what was appropriate. She wanted me to place some of the "blame" on the file clerk and actually said that she would quit if I didn't sign the write up she was doing on the file clerk. Well, I said that not only wouldn't I sign it, but I would send it to corporate with a note stating that the file clerk is not a babysitter and that the office manager used improper influence through her position to intimidate the file clerk into allowing the 13 year old girl into the file room in the first place. (I don't know if that was quite true or not, but I was mad).

An hour ago, my boss from corporate called and satated that she had just talked to the office manager of the other branch (office manager called her) and fired the office manager because of her insubordinate and inappropriate manner and actions.

Then I was asked if I had known that the 13 year old girl had been there. I said no, I had not,nor did I ever see the girl in the two times during the month I visited that branch. my boss said she had spoken to the file clerk who stated that the office manager had told the girl to stay in the file room if I ever came to visit and also told the others in the office not to say anything to me about it. I am truly shocked and hurt at that level of deception and I told my boss that. I told my boss that If