Top 10 Reasons Why My Day Sucked.

[Marla Sharp]

1. It was scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m. We didn’t start until 12:45. I worked that entire hour and 45 minutes on the phone with LiveNote support trying to figure out why I couldn’t hook up.

2. My witness had a strong Indian accent.

3. He was on the phone in India.

4. He said about a million Indian names very, very fast.

5. Because he was on the phone, he couldn’t hear me when I’d interrupt him, forcing me to scream.

6. The conference room was a table in a wide open area that was actually a hallway with people coming and going and making noise all day.

7. I didn’t get to eat lunch, and we only had one break in the three hours we were on the record.

8. I spent an hour after the depo trying to get all my questions answered.

9. Favorite part of the day? This quote:
A Am I too fast?
Q She's just having trouble with the words.
A Okay.
Q But that's okay. Go ahead.

10. Second favorite part of the day? This quote:
“Can I get a rough draft emailed tonight?”

Ugh.

[S. Arielle]

Awwwww.....I feel your pain. I'm so sorry that you had such a horrible day and there are so many inconsiderate people in this world. I hope your tomorrow is better.

[Heidi Johnson]

yikes....that sounds like an awful day. Reminds me of my meetings :) I know exactly what you mean when you try to interrupt people on the phone and they don't hear you and keep on talking...try doing it when there are 15 people on the phone....near to impossible. And one of the call-in members is Indian with a very strong accent......so I totally feel your pain. I think I would have smacked the attorney when he asked for a rough draft by the end of the day....

[Erica Abbott]

I can completely identify with your situation. I hate that sometimes we get overlooked. I am 22 and have been working for 2 years on top of schooling and interning, and I still get attorneys who call me little girl and completely ignore me until I tell me that I will be off the record until they can stop screaming at each other over the table and sit in their seats. They ARE attorneys, and we have to treat them like that (similar to how we treat children sometimes:) lol. Cheer up, sweetie! There's a new day tomorrow and something new in your job to focus on.

I do have to add that sometimes we need days like these. After we make it through an event like this, we get that renewed sense of "I can do anything if I can survive this!".

[Lisa Migliore Black]

Soon enough they'll be calling you "old woman." Enjoy it:)

[Marla Sharp]

Dang, girl! You win. No more feeling sorry for myself. Thanks.

That's why I don't do public meetings. They're not set by reporter-conscious people; therefore, they're never reporter-friendly situations.

And thanks for the empathy-filled comments, guys! Nice to know people really understand.

[Heidi Johnson]

I think somebody would have had to commit me to a mental ward after that.

[D. Stan]

Marla,

I have recently discovered a telephone logger which will allow you to listen directly from the phone line as opposed to the speaker phone. It's called the LRX 37C. They range from $25 to $45. It's sort of like a splitter. You plug one line into the phone jack and the other line into your backup recorder. You then plug your headset into you backup recorder and are able to hear a clear voice on the line as opposed to the speaker phone voice. I've played around with it a bit but have not had a telephone depo to actually try it out.

After my last phone depo, and straining to hear, I decided to buy one.

The separate room mic does not do a good job though. I did a sample recording and it recorded the voice on the telephone just fine, but the extra mic for the room did not pick up very good at all, even after yelling in the mic. So I do not recommend "splitting" the recording. I would simply place one line on the telephone, but I would not place one out for the room recording.

[Heidi Johnson]

I considered a setup similar to this since I take a lot of telephonic meetings. But I don't have a problem with the audio from the phone on my end....the problem lies with people calling in while driving or while at the airport or, in the case of my last meeting, a whispered appearance while he was attending a city council meeting (you could actually hear the city council speaking through his phone). Or their kids or pets are in the background. Or they have it on speaker phone and get up and walk away from their desk while talking. Or the phone cuts out. Or somebody's BlackBerry is nearby.

This does look like a nifty setup, though.

[Kyung]

I may be odd. Oh, all right. I'm odd. Now that we've gotten that out of the way.

I actually enjoy telephone depositions. I don't mind screaming at the top of my lungs over the person on the phone to get them to stop when they are talking over other people (it helps me get out some aggression). I enjoy telling people to please say their names again and again because I cannot tell who is speaking bec. everyone sounds alike on the phone (not).

But seriously, these are all behaviors that I would never do in a normal deposition. But being telephonic, I feel that I have more leeway.

I actually have had attorneys thank me for taking control of the deposition.

[Karen Margolis]

You actually made me laugh out loud, Kyung. Thanks for sharing!