Anonymous Lawyer

I walked over to my associate's office -- the one doing the unpleasant task described below -- to see how things were going, and to tell her she'd done enough and can move on to other work and we'll do the rest some other time. I had a change of heart. I realized I didn't need to take my own frustrations out on her. But I got there, knocked on the door, and when I walked in I noticed she had perhaps three or four instant messenger windows open on her screen. She wasn't doing work, she was talking to her friends. Who were probably down the hall and also not doing any work, since it's not like anyone here has time to have any friends outside the office. She wants to spend all day instant messaging, that's fine -- but I decided not to let her off the hook so quickly. So I asked some vague questions about her progress, told her how important this assignment is, and just sort of wandered out the door and back to my desk. I did tell her she looked very pretty today, though. Which she does. She's a very pretty associate.