So I'm sitting there writing away at a realtime job. It's a technical case, with lots of new-to-me terms and acronyms. The witness has a slight accent in addition to being very soft-spoken. One of the attorneys I'm hooked up to appears to be reading on her screen every single word I'm writing, versus just referring to the screen once in a while. Another attorney seems to be auditioning for the job of auctioneer, he is so fast. In other words, my task is to get down cleanly each and every word then and there, and that is requiring very intense concentration. Did I mention the job is being videotaped? So there's that added pressure of making sure the transcript matches up with the video as practicably as possible.
I'm focused so intently that I sometimes find myself holding my breath. Each time that occurs, I have to force several deep, slow breaths to get back to a comfortable rhythm. Of course, just as I've reached that rhythm, someone coughs during an answer, covering up a crucial word, and I'm jolted from my concentration to have to interrupt to ask for a repeat. Then, naturally, the loud air conditioning kicks in. At that point, I'm just thankful the two guys attending via telephone are not saying much, since they sound exactly the same and each time they do speak I have to scramble to get down what they're saying while at the same time trying to identify who's speaking.
It's at this moment that I catch sight of the icon on my laptop that lets me know I've got mail.
Let me take a step back here to explain that I am online even during jobs. Like many reporters, I carry a mobile broadband card. I do that so that at breaks I can send files as needed, respond timely to job offers and inquiries, and so forth. It's just part of my setup now to automatically plug in the broadband card right after opening up my laptop. My email program is set to check for mail every three minutes.
Now back to my realtime job. I happen to catch sight of the "you've got mail" notification. Well, I'm A LITTLE BUSY at the time, so, of course, I keep concentrating and writing to get down what's being said, versus CHECKING MY MAIL!
After about 20 minutes, the phone in the conference room starts ringing. Yes, this is the phone by which two of the attorneys are attending. So one of the attorneys in the room calls for a break to answer the phone, and we go off the record.
Come to find out, the two attorneys attending by phone had somehow become disconnected. Do you think they might have first thought to call the conference room we were in? Why, no. Instead they called the court reporting agency, which then emailed me. That's right, folks. Checking my email at this break, I see two messages from the agency with urgent requests for me to check the phone connection. I guess they thought I could read mail in all my spare time between words! Only after their emails to me went unanswered did they think to call the conference room.
What on earth do they think we're doing there?!
I'm focused so intently that I sometimes find myself holding my breath. Each time that occurs, I have to force several deep, slow breaths to get back to a comfortable rhythm. Of course, just as I've reached that rhythm, someone coughs during an answer, covering up a crucial word, and I'm jolted from my concentration to have to interrupt to ask for a repeat. Then, naturally, the loud air conditioning kicks in. At that point, I'm just thankful the two guys attending via telephone are not saying much, since they sound exactly the same and each time they do speak I have to scramble to get down what they're saying while at the same time trying to identify who's speaking.
It's at this moment that I catch sight of the icon on my laptop that lets me know I've got mail.
Let me take a step back here to explain that I am online even during jobs. Like many reporters, I carry a mobile broadband card. I do that so that at breaks I can send files as needed, respond timely to job offers and inquiries, and so forth. It's just part of my setup now to automatically plug in the broadband card right after opening up my laptop. My email program is set to check for mail every three minutes.
Now back to my realtime job. I happen to catch sight of the "you've got mail" notification. Well, I'm A LITTLE BUSY at the time, so, of course, I keep concentrating and writing to get down what's being said, versus CHECKING MY MAIL!
After about 20 minutes, the phone in the conference room starts ringing. Yes, this is the phone by which two of the attorneys are attending. So one of the attorneys in the room calls for a break to answer the phone, and we go off the record.
Come to find out, the two attorneys attending by phone had somehow become disconnected. Do you think they might have first thought to call the conference room we were in? Why, no. Instead they called the court reporting agency, which then emailed me. That's right, folks. Checking my email at this break, I see two messages from the agency with urgent requests for me to check the phone connection. I guess they thought I could read mail in all my spare time between words! Only after their emails to me went unanswered did they think to call the conference room.
What on earth do they think we're doing there?!
You need a program so that the popup gives you a preview of your email, like Gmail desktop notifications.
ReplyDeleteWhat?! And foster their misconception that we are just pushing buttons instead of working hard at concentrating?
ReplyDelete:P
Nifty-sounding program, though. But I would still have to read one thing while taking down another. I can do that with short snippets and slow proceedings, but not otherwise. I get too absorbed in the reading and then make errors. :|
d'oh!
ReplyDeleteUgg!!
ReplyDelete