Seen but not heard
Jan. 12th, 2012 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogI had to be out the door at a ridiculous hour this morning for a fairly unproductive court hearing in Rochester. These hearings are tape recorded, not with a court reporter present to transcribe it all. Therefore, the hearing officer makes clear at the start of the calendar that people need to speak up, and to USE WORDS. Nods, gestures and head/hand movements generally don't generate decibels.
The second case called (not the one I was there for) involved a couple who apparently had missed these instructions. Even on the most routine of questions (have you moved since you filed?, have you ever filed for bankruptcy before?), dude kept Not Answering Verbally. You could feel everyone else in the room getting uncomfortable as the trustee, usually one of the nicest guys in the job, had to keep reminding the witness about this. Finally, well beyond the point where many of his colleagues would have exploded and/or just adjourned their case for lack of cooperation, he gave the guy one last chance.
T: I don't think I can be clearer. The tape cannot pick up nonverbal responses. So if you don't want to come back another date, can you just answer my questions out loud?
And the witness, nothing if not consistent, nodded. Exasperated, T turned to the guy's lawyer and asked HIM to give it a shot. Somehow, he got through to the client and the rest of the hearing was, well, heard.
----
Meanwhile, while all this was going on, I caught something out of the corner of my eye in the row in front. Another attorney, also waiting for his case to be called, leaned forward in his seat (likely an involuntary reflex aimed at murdering the schnook in the witness chair) and his wallet fell out of his coat pocket and behind his seat. At least one $20 was sticking out of it. In a room full of financially desitute desperadoes (and I refer here to the lawyers), this was not good. I picked it up, tapped him on the shoulder and earned at least his temporary eternal gratitude. If nobody else had seen it, he would've been in a world of hurt even if nobody else actually took it, because federal buildings are pretty damn close to armed camps these days and nobody, NOBODY, gets in without photo ID (I've even seen them carding and metal-detecting the bankruptcy trustees holding hearings in there).
Then some stuff happened this afternoon, but I'll get round to nodding and grunting about THAT later;)
The second case called (not the one I was there for) involved a couple who apparently had missed these instructions. Even on the most routine of questions (have you moved since you filed?, have you ever filed for bankruptcy before?), dude kept Not Answering Verbally. You could feel everyone else in the room getting uncomfortable as the trustee, usually one of the nicest guys in the job, had to keep reminding the witness about this. Finally, well beyond the point where many of his colleagues would have exploded and/or just adjourned their case for lack of cooperation, he gave the guy one last chance.
T: I don't think I can be clearer. The tape cannot pick up nonverbal responses. So if you don't want to come back another date, can you just answer my questions out loud?
And the witness, nothing if not consistent, nodded. Exasperated, T turned to the guy's lawyer and asked HIM to give it a shot. Somehow, he got through to the client and the rest of the hearing was, well, heard.
----
Meanwhile, while all this was going on, I caught something out of the corner of my eye in the row in front. Another attorney, also waiting for his case to be called, leaned forward in his seat (likely an involuntary reflex aimed at murdering the schnook in the witness chair) and his wallet fell out of his coat pocket and behind his seat. At least one $20 was sticking out of it. In a room full of financially desitute desperadoes (and I refer here to the lawyers), this was not good. I picked it up, tapped him on the shoulder and earned at least his temporary eternal gratitude. If nobody else had seen it, he would've been in a world of hurt even if nobody else actually took it, because federal buildings are pretty damn close to armed camps these days and nobody, NOBODY, gets in without photo ID (I've even seen them carding and metal-detecting the bankruptcy trustees holding hearings in there).
Then some stuff happened this afternoon, but I'll get round to nodding and grunting about THAT later;)