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    Know-it-all entitled paralegal lets it slip that she's working at 2 different law firms, so coworker gets her fired and gets the office to herself: ‘I did not want to share an office.'

    Nothing is worse than having to spend 8 hours a day in a tiny office with someone who drives you crazy. So when this paralegal found out that her coworker was duping the system, she jumped at the chance to report her and get her fired. 

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    • Professional male and female law employees discussing paperwork in the office at a desk
      via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
      Professional male and female law employees discussing paperwork in the office at a desk. 

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    • "I got my office mate fired..."

      This is all very new and I am still trying to get over that it happened. I work in the legal field as a paralegal and wanted to go back to litigation. A month ago, I took on a new job with an attorney I used to work with. I was pretty excited
      via wordsfromghost
    • about more simple, busy work and working with someone I knew pretty well. I get to the office my first day and was told I will have to share an office...with Debbie. Debbie didn't start yet, but I have known many Debbie's. Older women,
      via wordsfromghost
    • knows everything, cannot. take criticism. But I thought that maybe this Debbie will be different. First day Debbie started, she looked what I figured more or less. Older woman, with glasses, she was pretty skinny, highlighted
      via wordsfromghost
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    • We are nowhere near retirement (bittersweet), but we figured your last year working probably feels a little bit like your senior year in high school. Though we are also past our 10-year high school reunion, no one ever really forgets that senior mentality they got to experience during their last year as a legal child. That's the last year you can get away with so much more trouble! Once you're off to college, you're still a baby in the grand scheme of things, but you're also responsible for a lot more in your life. Firstly, you have to feed yourself. You never realize how annoying that is until you are forced to remember you need three square meals a day. And secondly, you are not living without your family (usually), which means you have to figure out how to function with a roommate. 

      That seems off topic, but we assure you, it has a point! You see, here, this paralegal was forced to share an office space with an older paralegal. This paralegal was only a year away from retirement. So she wasn't being very careful about how she presented herself or what she told her coworker, who obviously didn't even want to spend her lunch with her. You see the relation now?

    • blonde hair. When she first came in and I was griping about billing, she seemed sort of...annoyed. I was annoyed too, but mostly because I did not want to share an office.
      via wordsfromghost
    • As the weeks went by, I thought we were doing pretty ok. When you are stuck at an office, there is always the mistake of saying too much of your personal life. Debbie told me she had a side business (cleaning), she also used to
      via wordsfromghost
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    • do contract work for some high level New York firm (fancy) as a remote contract worker, and she said her son is rich and actually bought her house for her.
      via wordsfromghost
    • One day, I asked her why she needed to work here because she sounds like she had it pretty made. She said she was just here for the year until she qualifies for early retirement...
      via wordsfromghost
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    • Granted, Debbie has years (decades) of experience. But the firm I was with I knew was looking for someone long term. A year in legal time is not long term.
      via wordsfromghost
    • Then it sort of got to me, having her there in the office with me for 8 hours a day. I tried to stagger my lunch with hers to get some alone time away from her (because the lunch break alone did not feel enough).
      via wordsfromghost
    • Because Debbie was a skinny person, she was also cold all the time. She would put the heater up high. I tried talking to her and even just lowered the heater myself. She would just put it back on high.
      via wordsfromghost
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    • Cheezburger Image 10612111616
      via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

    • So I needed to vent about this. I called my friend to have lunch. We both are in the same profession in two different buildings, but we used to work together a long time ago. As I vented about Debbie, my friend realized Debbie sounds a lot like her Debbie at work.
      via wordsfromghost
    • Turns out Debbie was working part time at my friend's law firm and full time here. When she was sick with the stomach bug and had to go home early? She went to the other place. Car problems? She was over at the other place.
      via wordsfromghost
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    • Doctor's appointment? You guessed it, she was working at the other place. And soon, I kept second guessing everything the woman said to me. How she was familiar with our software, but I was still
      via wordsfromghost

    • So, as an older paralegal lady was living it up in her last year of employment before she retired, she messed it up for herself in the end. She could have been making extra cash before she stopped working, but she couldn't help but act entitled with her office mate. Even though she was obviously lying to all of her coworkers and acting like a know-it-all, it was ultimately the heater that was her demise. You see, she ignored her office mates' wishes to compromise on the temperature in the office. So as she was turning up the heater to spite her younger coworker, her coworker was ratting her out to management. 

      She was so close to getting away with everything! But, it was her hubris that got her in the end. That's karma for ya! 

    • teaching her things. How she does not want to take her notary stamp here. The need to have so much income, but your son bought you a house. Her son called one time and seemed excited he got accepted for an apartment,
      via wordsfromghost
    • which does not seem like a person who can pay off a home. When I got back to the office, I was conflicted. It's not illegal to work for two law firms. But it is unethical to not disclose to one place that you are working at
      via wordsfromghost
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    • another place. Not being aware could put either business and attorneys in trouble. And then Debbie put the heater all the way up again and that was the last straw.
      via wordsfromghost
    • I told the head paralegal what I found out. This was a Friday. The weekend was long and slow. Monday came and no one called me or questioned me. Right when I was accepting Debbie got away with it, she
      via wordsfromghost
    • was fired. Turns out she was actively looking at a case from the other place and was messaging my friend about it. This is clio, and anything you click on is pretty much time stamped.
      via wordsfromghost
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    • Debbie is still at the other place to my knowledge as a part time employee. I haven't heard anything else since last week.
      via wordsfromghost

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