Pet Peeves

[Quyen]

Okay, for the last freakin' godforsaken time, IT IS NOT A #!*$@%! BACKSLASH!!! It's a SLASH, okay, a S-L-A-S-H, SLASH!!! So every time you unbelievably annoyingly say "backslash," I will write out the WORD backslash and not put in the correct SLASH symbol for you!

THIS is a slash: /
THIS is a backslash: \

Get it straight!!! Aaaaarrrrrgh! I HATE when attorneys/witnesses use the wrong term for the danged SLASH!!!

Okay, I feel a little bit better now.

[Jennie Ann]

I have a new one to add, and that is speakers who begin every sentence with a verb.

Went to the store. Had a nice lunch. Looked at the sun. Walked to my car. Enjoyed patting a dog. Glanced at my watch. Managed my time. Went home late. Slept all night long.

Driving me crazy! LOL

[Veronica Kubat]

Quyen, I've always been in SoCal, and I'm beginning to hate the SoCal stip too.

[Quyen]

In a perfect world, that would be just great, wouldn't it, Jeanese? But I'm sure they'd pay as much mind to depo etiquette from a CR's perspective as they do their admonition to not talk over each other.

Oh, and let me put at the TOP of my pet peeves list:

THE SOCAL STIP!!!

[Quyen]

Lol, Jeanese! You nailed some of my other pet peeves too!

Oh, I LOVE when they hand the exhibit to me, still holding it in the air in their hand, expecting me to take the exhibit from them and mark it as they continue talking/describing the stupid thing. One time, this attorney kept doing it! I cocked my head to the side, looked at him and let out an exasperated sigh, like, "Duh! Do you NOT see that I only have two hands?! And SHUT UP ALREADY when I'm trying to mark your stupid exhibit!"

Of course, he was, like, "Oh, sorry."

Oh, and how about when they say, "Off the record." I'm still freakin' downloading from my brain what they just said. They look at you like you're supposed to stop the very instant they say "off the record"!

And when they start talking about the calendar at the end, five minutes later they say, "Oh, this is off the record."

Oh, and when they go on and off the record without even saying so. One time I was so frustrated, I said to them, "You have to tell me when you're going on and off the record. Sometimes I know. Sometimes I don't. I can't read minds."

Kind of amazes me that I'm still in business, considering some of the things I say to them. :O

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

I'm with you, Quyen :)

[Quyen]

Sherry, you made me look that up! Since Merriam-Webster is my bible, here it is: slash

Whose responsibility is it to request the speaker to say "yes" or no"?

Sometimes I will ask the witness, "Is that a yes?" or "Is that a no?" It kind of depends what kind of mood I'm in. If I'm in an "I don't care what your record looks like if you don't," then I won't bother. Or, if after I've asked three to five times and the witness continues to mm-hm or uh-huh or whatever else, I'll just stop. I don't feel it's my job. I think it's more the attorney's responsibility to get a clear record ... it's HIS/HER depo. :)

[Jennie Ann]

Here's my pet peeve of the month. I cannot stand this: mm-hmm, uh-huh, nuh-uh, uh-uh.

Whose responsibility is it to request the speaker to say "yes" or no"?

Has anybody ever encountered the so-called "three hums," you know, meaning "I don't know"? How is that spelled?

[sherry kelly]

That's a backslash and a forwardslash - or so I've heard.

Irregardless is not a word.

[Quyen]

Ooh, that's another one! Irregardless is like having a nail pounded into my ears! Grrrr!

[April McMillan, CRR, RPR, CSR]

How about irregardless? That one annoys the @#$& out of me.