February 6th, 2013 Even When I Fail, He is Faithful-February’s Wow Part 2

Thanks so much for taking the time to join me for a little break at Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and come on in. I have a bit of real-life drama to share with you that He is using to refine me. I pray that as I share, the sparks from the refining process will ignite something spiritually significant for you!

I had received my job assignment the night before – I am a freelance court reporter — and as soon as I heard the location, there was a little nudge of uneasiness in my spirit. See, the job was at another court reporting agency, and in court reporting etiquette, a court reporter from one agency does not show up to report a deposition at another court reporting agency, unless it’s a network job. I squashed the uneasiness down, telling myself to chillax. At least I was working.

The other disconcerting thing is it was in a bad part of town, downtown Pomona off of Garey Avenue. As I pulled up, I was a bit shocked at how rundown the building looked and how hard I had to look for their sign to make sure I was at the right place. If I had to compare it to something, I’d say it looked more like a bar instead of a professional building. That’s what I love about my job; all the culture I experience!

Anyway, I walked in, and the inside looked about as bad as the outside, dark, dungy and a bit oppressive now that I think about it. The lady at the front was in what looked like a cage, or a barricade, probably for safety reasons! She must have seen me pulling my court reporting case because she didn’t even greet me; she just directed me down the hall, “straight ahead, then turn right.”

As I turned right, I saw one attorney sitting down and a lady standing at the door of her office and I could tell immediately by her body language and her tone of voice she was using with this attorney that something was wrong. I sat like a fly on the wall for a moment to listen to the obvious problem and then I heard: “I never heard anything about this. The only time we allow another court reporter that isn’t from our agency to report in our conference room is if it’s a network job.”
I mentally flew off the wall and joined the conversation: “Actually, I think this may be a network job.”

Like a snake that suddenly came upon some unsuspecting prey, she turned her head toward me and spat: “No, it isn’t a network job. All network jobs go through me.”

As I wiped her venom off  of me, I looked at the other attorney and calmly said: Let me call my office. I stepped down the hall a few steps and called my office manager and after putting me on hold for a few seconds, she came back on and explained that our client had arranged it. Then she informed me that she had Christie, the office manager for our client’s firm on the line.

When I heard her say “Christie,” I got excited because I didn’t know she was still with this firm and we go a long way back to when we used to sell Creative Memories together and do scrap-booking. In fact, she’s the one who got me started in that fun hobby. I knew we couldn’t get in a “remember when” conversation; no, that would have to be for another day . . .

Join me tomorrow for more of this real life blooper that led me to these words of wisdom!

Evinda