Shop Talk

The Delightful Maria Bamford:  Go listen to this interview with her, because she's swell.

As many readers know, this blog has a few functions:  to warn readers about the dangers of chimps (and the chimp-like), distract students from the horrors associated with law school, and to periodically criticize TWBLSOTS (The World's Best Law School On Tremont Street).  Above The Law linked a kind of sad/funny by the author of Constitutional Daily, an NYU JD and current Big Law refugee.  In it, he recounts his inability to find work at a Target.

This is something that a lot of people, not just freshly minted lawyers, have to consider at one point or another:  where will we work if we can't work where we want?  It makes no sense to harp on the lack of legal jobs.  Anyone currently enrolled in a JD program knew that there were no jobs before they briefed Pierson v Post or had some embarrassing 1L hookup following a "Trivia n' Binge Drinking" event at the local Skeeter O'Nanist's or a duck boat or something.  And when you go to a law school  listed in US News as being in the  "Dantean" Tier, well... expect some disappointment when you apply to Big Law.  With that said, there's a lesson to be learned in the anecdote of retail rejection.  Like in many other areas in both life and the Law, it is absolutely essential to avoid being a dick.

While the gradient between asshole/not asshole is distinctively grey, there's a way to gain a little perspective, and it can be found by toiling in the service industry.  I'm not saying that being a shop girl or bartender will make you wiser.  On the contrary, too many hours spent learning how to properly fold sweaters or mix Jager bombs can lead to a particular variety of jaded dickishness that even the most slim-jegginged Hipsters are incapable of projecting.  But waiting on people can be enlightening - once you've been screamed at for being unable to process a gift card or locate an appropriately khaki enough pair of chinos, you'll hopefully learn how not to treat people if you want to make friends in the world (or, at the very least, avoid too much spit in your food).

Then again, considering how TWBLSOTS approaches ethics and integrity, you might just get into the habit of spitting in your food before the waiter gets a chance so you can be as obnoxious as you want.  Follow your own star.