Am I right to be upset or is my superior right? Forum

[1suckout]

I'm doing a paid in-house gig over summer for a bigger company. For my 3rd assignment, an older, grizzly looking attorney handed me a partially organized, 100+ page portion of a contract that he had written on his own. Fine, I like contracts. The issue is that he wants me doing a lot of copying and pasting (modification), and formatting has become a big issue due to the fact that Microsoft Word will auto-format pasted text (even with proper settings applied). Ultimately these formatting issues have turned into a nightmare--and the attorney in charge is treating the issue as though I should be a formatting expert, or should have dumped the job on a legal assistant (remember, this is over 100 pages and a relatively lengthy project involving about 2 dozen modifications). The legal assistant I work with told me she could do some of it but when we looked at the formatting issues together she agreed that the copy/paste screw-ups were unusual and not a quick fix. The attorney in charge keeps telling me he could have had the job done in 2 hours and that I'm wasting his time, etc, etc, general douche-like behavior... he says "can we make this phone call more efficient, I thought you would have had this project done a long time ago"....it's as if he thinks major modifications to his contract can be correctly applied and formatted within a couple hours. I'm just wondering whether I'm right to think this person is acting a little out of line here, and how much longer I should serve as a punching bag before I complain about him.

[FSK]

.

[LeDique]

I'm doing a paid in-house gig over summer for a bigger company. For my 3rd assignment, an older, grizzly looking attorney handed me a partially organized, 100+ page portion of a contract that he had written on his own. Fine, I like contracts. The issue is that he wants me doing a lot of copying and pasting (modification), and formatting has become a big issue due to the fact that Microsoft Word will auto-format pasted text (even with proper settings applied). Ultimately these formatting issues have turned into a nightmare--and the attorney in charge is treating the issue as though I should be a formatting expert, or should have dumped the job on a legal assistant (remember, this is over 100 pages and a relatively lengthy project involving about 2 dozen modifications). The legal assistant I work with told me she could do some of it but when we looked at the formatting issues together she agreed that the copy/paste screw-ups were unusual and not a quick fix. The attorney in charge keeps telling me he could have had the job done in 2 hours and that I'm wasting his time, etc, etc, general douche-like behavior... he says "can we make this phone call more efficient, I thought you would have had this project done a long time ago"....it's as if he thinks major modifications to his contract can be correctly applied and formatted within a couple hours. Guy went to a third tier school but I'm trying not to let that bias my judgment. I'm just wondering whether I'm right to think this person is acting a little out of line here, and how much longer I should serve as a punching bag before I complain about him.

lol there's so much here that's great. Maybe you should learn about paste special or how to use Word? And just fucking lol at "Guy went to a third tier school but I'm trying not to let that bias my judgment." To answer your last question—how much longer I should serve as a punching bag before I complain about him—your entire career.

Wait this is in house with no chance of leading to an offer? Sure go ahead and complain, but its not really going to end well

[rayiner]

So you messed up a simple task because you can't figure out MS Word, a program tons of non-college grads use proficiently, and are talking shit about where this guy went to school?

[nygrrrl]

All of the above.
Suck it up and get it done.

[MoneyMay]

lol

[1suckout]

I'm doing a paid in-house gig over summer for a bigger company. For my 3rd assignment, an older, grizzly looking attorney handed me a partially organized, 100+ page portion of a contract that he had written on his own. Fine, I like contracts. The issue is that he wants me doing a lot of copying and pasting (modification), and formatting has become a big issue due to the fact that Microsoft Word will auto-format pasted text (even with proper settings applied). Ultimately these formatting issues have turned into a nightmare--and the attorney in charge is treating the issue as though I should be a formatting expert, or should have dumped the job on a legal assistant (remember, this is over 100 pages and a relatively lengthy project involving about 2 dozen modifications). The legal assistant I work with told me she could do some of it but when we looked at the formatting issues together she agreed that the copy/paste screw-ups were unusual and not a quick fix. The attorney in charge keeps telling me he could have had the job done in 2 hours and that I'm wasting his time, etc, etc, general douche-like behavior... he says "can we make this phone call more efficient, I thought you would have had this project done a long time ago"....it's as if he thinks major modifications to his contract can be correctly applied and formatted within a couple hours. Guy went to a third tier school but I'm trying not to let that bias my judgment. I'm just wondering whether I'm right to think this person is acting a little out of line here, and how much longer I should serve as a punching bag before I complain about him.

lol there's so much here that's great. Maybe you should learn about paste special or how to use Word? And just fucking lol at "Guy went to a third tier school but I'm trying not to let that bias my judgment." To answer your last question—how much longer I should serve as a punching bag before I complain about him—your entire career.

Wait this is in house with no chance of leading to an offer? Sure go ahead and complain, but its not really going to end well

I guess I'm just not an expert in Word.

[phillywc]

I guess I'm just not an expert in Word.

Word is pretty easy, but maybe if you had asked for help instead of being a douchebag, people would have helped you.

[1suckout]

So you messed up a simple task because you can't figure out MS Word, a program tons of non-college grads use proficiently, and are talking shit about where this guy went to school?

To be more clear, I just think it's unfair to expect a law student to be an expert (not just proficient) in MS Word. I also think it's unfair to expect a law student to dump his job on a legal assistant and force her to do 3 hours of unexpected work.

[misterjames]

i audibly laughed at how ridiculous this post was. the unnecessarily vindictive description, the comment about his school's rank. just wow. 10/10

[LeDique]

I guess I'm just not an expert in Word.

Word is pretty easy, but maybe if you had asked for help instead of being a douchebag, people would have helped you.

I think this is what you're missing. It's less about you not knowing how to use Word and more about your reaction.

[johnnyquest]

How fair is it to call out a dude for going to a TTT?

[1suckout]

i audibly laughed at how ridiculous this post was. the unnecessarily vindictive description, the comment about his school's rank. just wow. 10/10

well clearly I'm doing it for revenge...it sucks being a punching bag.

[nothingtosee]

Have you highlighted the text and clicked the eraser icon?

When you paste, do you write click and then see like five icons? One of those will do no formatting.

[BVest]

This is why WordPerfect was, is, and always will be >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MS Word.

[johnnyquest]

i audibly laughed at how ridiculous this post was. the unnecessarily vindictive description, the comment about his school's rank. just wow. 10/10

well clearly I'm doing it for revenge...it sucks being a punching bag.

Ahhh...sweet revenge! That'll show him!

[sublime]

..

[NYSprague]

Can't you just go back to the previous version and start over. It is often faster than trying to fix a formatting mess. Just explain you had unexpected issues and your sorry and then ask HR for Word training.

[1suckout]

How fair is it to call out a dude for going to a TTT?

About 10% fair but when you've just been embarrassed and yelled at, you look for ways to make someone else look bad (and then you get embarrassed more on TLS).

[rayiner]

So you messed up a simple task because you can't figure out MS Word, a program tons of non-college grads use proficiently, and are talking shit about where this guy went to school?

To be more clear, I just think it's unfair to expect a law student to be an expert (not just proficient) in MS Word. I also think it's unfair to expect a law student to dump his job on a legal assistant and force her to do 3 hours of unexpected work.

Being an expert in Word means knowing how to use hotkeys and macros and whatnot. Not ducking up formatting when moving things around is something you should've picked up somewhere during high school or college. Or you could've done a quick Google search before you fucked up the formatting of the entire document.

[NYSprague]

How fair is it to call out a dude for going to a TTT?

About 10% fair but when you've just been embarrassed and yelled at, you look for ways to make someone else look bad (and then you get embarrassed more on TLS).

Don't be embarrassed, just come up with a solution and tell him how you will solve the problem as soon as possible.

[chipotle123]

Have you highlighted the text and clicked the eraser icon?

When you paste, do you write click and then see like five icons? One of those will do no formatting.

1) This is a highly entertaining thread, I thank you for sharing OP

2) nothingtosee, Awesome avatar. I'll never forget that face, ever. Both LSAC and NASBA (National Association of State Boards of Accountatncy) use the same stock photo

http://nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/

[DELG]

Word can be legitimately hard to work with

But guess what law is full of fucking fucks

Complain and you will be disappointed in the outcome

[bizzike]

So you messed up a simple task because you can't figure out MS Word, a program tons of non-college grads use proficiently, and are talking shit about where this guy went to school?

To be more clear, I just think it's unfair to expect a law student to be an expert (not just proficient) in MS Word. I also think it's unfair to expect a law student to dump his job on a legal assistant and force her to do 3 hours of unexpected work.

Being an expert in Word means knowing how to use hotkeys and macros and whatnot. Not ducking up formatting when moving things around is something you should've picked up somewhere during high school or college. Or you could've done a quick Google search before you fucked up the formatting of the entire document.

Legitimately 5 minutes of Google search would have solved your problem. But, I guess being a proud idiot is more prestigious

[kaiser]

Welcome to the real world. People are going to make demands they think are simple, yet they may miss the complexity or the problems. But you can't complain or try and explain yourself. You can talk to the guy generally about what the hold up is, but the bottom line is just find a way to get it done. A partner was honest with me, and said they expect the young associates to be like wizards with technology, working magic with ease, whether or not that assumption is correct, or however unfair that may be when the task is complex. But thats the way it is

Best not to bitch and moan, and just get it done however you can