A message comes in from a friend with the news. He wasn’t sure. He thought it was the same place, same name, right? I had to read the message twice. It felt unreal. Messaged him back asking where he’d seen this. It didn’t register for me to go look on the internet. Shock wave rippled reasons inside. I snapped out of it and searched. There in front of my eyes was the article. I felt ill.
It was a previous place where I’d worked in a support role, the legal field, specifically criminal defense. It was a job full of challenges, vastly different from contract law that I was accustomed to. At this particular legal firm where I worked, there was the full range of clients. How do I put this? Every type of crime, every type of offender, including those charged with murder(s) and so much more. Let your imagination run to crazy.
SUPPORT
I’ve never had a job so full of crazy, drama, and danger. It’s not an environment I would have chosen, had I known the extent of what I'd be dealing with. The worst of it was, I never knew what would possibly go down in the run of a day. Five years of many wild stories and covering lawyers butts when they dropped the ball. I took to the job like a duck to water for some bizarre reason. It was a fit and I handled it very well. They gave me the nickname “the rock”. Hilarious. Me, a rock? Too funny. Not how I’ve ever seen myself and still don’t.
Anyone who has worked in this field knows full well how it is. It’s so close to street life because of the type of clients criminal lawyers have. Every criminal lawyer I’ve ever known is street smart. It’s an unspoken necessity of the job.
Sometimes dangerous situations arose at this particular firm. It was especially difficult to avoid, since you enter the building from street level, with only two support staff five paces inside the door. Directly in the line of fire for any client or random street people that would wander in. Often, there were times I’d be alone there, while the other support person was on break, or not in.
LOCKED
Lawyers’ offices were on upper floors, locked off from the main floor for safety reasons. There were huge windows on the main floor with old metal bars partially covering the lower half. There was no protection for support staff once that main door was unlocked. I’m not sure why it was set up like that, but hey, why worry about those peons on the front line of fire.
After working there for just over a year, the other support person quit with no notice. She'd been subjected to several years of utter crap from management that I wasn't aware of until after the fact. When she left, that crap was transferred onto me. My workload doubled and my stress level went up. I had to handle everything alone for almost two months until they hired a replacement. Add keeping clients happy while keeping them in check to that. I managed it. I seem to always manage to rise to the occasion when a challenge presents itself. I can’t resist testing my mettle.
Somehow, the crap transfer stayed stuck to me. There were many reasons for the crap stick sticking. I’ve walked that road often. It always boils down to the same basic reason. I’m not “controllable”. I think and choose for myself, even if it’s to my detriment. I do this when something goes against my personal code, doesn’t ring true, or the person(s) has questionable intentions.
DISCARDED
Management went through four support staff in the five years I worked there. I was also told that staff in my role typically lasted only one year. I didn’t know why at the beginning, but saw clearly once the crap dump truck regularly rolled my way. After five years, I was let go with no penalties on my employment record and some shut up money, since what they were doing broke employment laws. They had a replacement ready for my departure. I checked into it after to confirm.
I have very little interest in doing battle with anyone unless the situation absolutely warrants it. There aren’t many that do. I accepted the situation, let it go, moved on, and found a better role. The whole passed into the past.
Almost two years later and I’m staring at the news article on my screen. I had to know what happened to whom. As I read, ripples went through me. A suspect had entered the building and stabbed an employee in the heart. Four days later, she died in the hospital. She was the person who’d replaced me in that role. As I stared at her photo, I couldn’t quite compute what had gone down there. I thought, if I’d still been there, that would have been me in that situation.
STABBED
Many details have not been included because I am still under a non-disclosure agreement. I never found out exactly what happened. All I have are my suspicions based on what I know. I suspect it was a client that went off the deep end. The whys could be any combination of elements. It’s not as if they didn’t know there were safety issues for support staff. Many situations came up with clients. I had my own close call once. No weapons involved. That particular client would literally bite off half your face, weaponized teeth that already had a sentence for an aggravated assault.
Saved from being murdered by losing my job. Sometimes you get to see why a pitfall in life is actually something better for you. One of my favourite expressions is, “death is like bingo, when your number’s up, it’s up.” There are no guarantees of how much time any person has. I expressed this sentiment while I was an employee at that firm. It's never a popular sentiment. It is one that is true to life. You don’t get advance warning of when your time is up.
WHITE LILY
All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera.
