Anonymous Lawyer

After a long holiday weekend, I like to get in the office early and ease into the day. By the time the associates roll in from their vacations at 9:30, 10:00, or even later, with tans that will quickly fade and stories no one wants to hear, I'll have a stack of assignments ready to hand out and shock them back into the routine. I've already left some post-it notes on people's computers asking them to see me as soon as they get in. I dated one of them last Wednesday, one last Tuesday, and one, for someone I know has been gone since the day before Christmas, 7 A.M. on Christmas morning. "Check in as soon as you get this," it says. "I have some work to take with you on vacation. Hope it won't be much trouble. Thx." It'll put the fear of God into them, just a bit. This is one tactic e-mail and voice mail have almost completely destroyed. Even if there was a way to change the date stamps, you know they're checking almost compulsively from wherever they are. But a post-it note on the computer? It's perfect.