Is it just me or what? And a dog!

[Kerry F]

Had the job from hell today.   Young attorneys.  One talked 250 all day, the witness talked 250 and his attorney who said plenty talked abut 270 and objected to almost every single question for almost 300 pages.  And they kept talking on top of each other.  Your typical job from hell depo.  But add to that:

The witness was tapping shoes on the floor, both of them, like a penguin, all day long!  And at times he was tapping his nails on the table along with his feet.  Drove me crazy!!!!!  So distracting to trying to concentrate.  And he wasn't nervous, just couldn't sit still.  The brief times he wasn't tapping his feet, he was swinging side to side in his chair.  Glad it didn't squeak!

Okay, so on my depo this afternoon, at the non-taking attorney's office, he closed the door as we were ready to start, but left the door cracked.  I asked, Did you want to shut the door (it was a little noisy in the hallway) and he said no, the dog might want to come it.  So in comes a little Schnauzer of some sort with ringing bells on his collar walking around under the table back and for on my cords on the floor...............the attorney said it was "the office dog." 

[Janiece Young]

Recently I've had the clicking pen thing going on.

One thing I find comes up a lot is the witness will cover their mouth while answering.  I usually have to remind them several times not to do this.  It's usually a soft-spoken witness to begin with and then when they put their hand over their mouth, there's just no way I can hear.

[Rhonda Hall Breuwet, RDR CRR CLR]

What's just as bad is a noisy videographer.  A few weeks ago, right after we got back on the record after lunch, I started hearing this noise that was pissing me off.  At first, I couldn't figure out what he was doing.  Then I hear the crunch, crunch, crunch of the potato chips.  Um, excuse me, idiot, but we JUST got back from lunch.  WTF didn't you eat those WHILE you were at lunch.  Nothing drives me nuts worse that slurping, crunching, smacking, and sipping noises.  Annoys the crap out of me when attorneys sit there and slurp their hot coffee.  Dude, if it's so hot you have to slurp, let it freakin' cool down.

[Judy]

Ugh, there's a videographer over here that brings TONS of snacks for herself and proceeds to eat them during the entire depo.  Drives me crazy.

The other day I was in depo, straining to hear the questions coming over the speakerphone, I glanced over at counsel to my left and he's got his finger in his ear, pulls it out, inspects what he found, rolls it up, then proceeds to wipe it on the chair.  Do these people think they're alone in the room?  Just mind-boggling.

[Carol Paradise]

OMG I'm laughing so hard.  All this time, I thought it was just ME!  I thought I was overly sensitive to let these things bother me.  This was just so funny.  I can't stop laughing!

Thanks for making my day!

Carol

[Christy A. Cannariato]

I'm not sure I would stop a witness or attorney from an annoying habit unless I couldn't do my job, like eating food while talking. Too schoolteacher-ish to correct people's manners if it's just an annoying tic.  However, the videographers doing annoying things I definitely stop their behavior because attorneys see the reporter and the videographer as part of the same unit.  So I do not let a videographer's bad habits reflect on me.  I have told them flat out to stop eating -- I had the exact same experience as Rhonda said above with a videographer opening up a hot smelly lunch AFTER we had just taken a 75 minute lunch break.  I have told them to stop ostentatiously reading a novel or comic book -- pay attention or at least disguise what you're doing.  I have told them to stop swiveling in their chairs or fidgeting like a six year-old.  If I ever see an attorney glancing over at the videographer doing something that distracts them, I tell the videographer to stop.  I know their job can be tedious and boring and they want to do something to pass the time, but there's no way I am going to risk a call back for another job from that atty because of an unprofessional videographer.

[Carol Paradise]

I've actually had a videographer fall asleep DURING the deposition and fall off his chair, almost knocking over his own equipment.  It was a doctor's deposition, and it wasn't even long.  It only went about an hour.  I think he may have been fired shortly after that.  We couldn't believe it.

[Kerry F]

That's just hilarious!!!!

[Kerry F]

Here's good icon for falling asleep.

 

 

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

That is too funny, Judy.  I did have an expert fart in the depo and then he cleared his throat like no one would notice.  I sure noticed, but what do you say?  Did you just fart?  I don't think so.

[Kerry F]

Not to be gross, but is there an odor associated with clearing your throat?

[Judy]

Maybe scootch your chair away from his. 

[Rosalie DeLeonardis]

I have never heard of the word "scootch" until a month ago when the attorney told the soft-spoken witness to "scootch" his chair closer to me, and I think it came up as Scotch...lol...but I thought maybe I heard her wrong, I'll double check the audio when I get home, my ears are playing tricks on me.  Nope, on the audio it was clear as day, so I guess my hearing isn't as bad as I thought...lol