Reserving reporters far in advance - and then the job cancels!

[David Levy]

Am I the only one who has been suffering from this syndrome?  Certain agencies reserve you a week or even two weeks beforehand.  They tell you just enough about the job to get you to take it, like, it's supposed to be a full day, this lawyer "usually" orders a rough at the end, etc.   So you turn down jobs, sometimes better jobs, that are offered to you as late as the day before.  Then, Bam!   At 3:30 or four p.m. on the day before, they tell you it's canceled, and they're "sorry."  

Does it strike you that there's something unfair about this?  When it happens, the agency has no obligation to the reporter at all.  They're "sorry," and that's all you'll get from them.  Meanwhile the reporter is left with no work and no recourse.  But if you turned the job back to them because you got offered something better, there's hell to pay!  They'll never use you again, etc., etc.  I think there's something lopsided about this.  Why  is all the onus on the reporter?  If they've tied you up for a week and required you to turn down other work, and then when the day comes, they have nothing to offer you, shouldn't they have some obligation to you?  How do others handle this?  I'm really getting tired of it.

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

I don't think you're living "wrong,"  just that this entire

system of communication has grown so much that it is

like wading through mud knee deep!!  I also have to 

check where I am when I post!!!  lol, good luck with your issue!

[Professional Reporting Services,]

It's not necessarily the Agencies Fault. Law firms schedule in advance and then cancel the day before all the time. It's been like that forever.

It's not just the Court Reporters who lose the work but the Agencies as well.