Pride

I've been doing the job of two people at my office for about 7 months. I became an official legal secretary working directly under an attorney at the end of October. Prior to that, I was handling all the collection in my firm (about 250 cases). I'd handled the collection since the inception of the department, when I first started at age 16. At that point, there was no desk for me, and I was paid just over minimum wage. At first I hated it, but as time passed and the process became my own, I grew to love it; the whole department became my baby. I was on a first name basis with 75% of the clients.

Since I've been a legal secretary, working directly for an attorney that I greatly admire and love working under, I've been asked to keep up the collection efforts as well. Essentially, I was working two full time jobs. I didn't mind at first, as the salary I was offered was exactly double that which I'd previously been earning. So I accepted the challenge.

About 2 months ago, I was I was forced to admit that I could not complete this challenge. I admitted to the owner of my firm that I needed help doing collection, or that they should hire another person altogether to do it. He agreed and told me they had intentions of doing so. I nearly halted all my collection efforts.

This morning I was informed by the other partner of the firm that an "intern" of ours would be taking over the collection department. I use the term "intern" loosely, as the man, George, is anything but qualified to handle the task. He is a 35-year-old ex-client, who needed a job in a pinch and has been doing all of our filing and xeroxing. (Mind you, the job I did when I was 16; only fit for a high schooler.) Half the time, he is incapable of even these tasks, and so I always opt to do my own copying, to obviate cleaning up his messes.

Am I upset that my baby will now be in the hands of a man that I won't even let do my copying? I shouldn't be. The attorney I work for asked me how I felt and I said that I simply have to step back and not be so involved. My boyfriend told me I take things too personally. Odd, because I've always thought of myself as a generally laid back person. I think my boyfriend is right, though, so I'll take this first step back toward the Diana of old that could care less what the people around her did.

So I'll continue sitting at my desk on the top floor with my giant window, eating my hummus and melba toast and extricate myself from the situation. That's the proper decision, right? I hope that this will be the first rung of a ladder that will lead me back up to the relaxed person I once was.