SEWAGE AND SLUDGE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE

Who among us hasn't at some time of frustration cursed our little courthouse as a "sewer" and some of its inhabitants as "sludge" ?

Be careful what you ask for....because now comes word courtesy of a DBR article that budget cuts have had the unintended effect of "bumping" workers from their regular jobs into our clerks' office.

So now we have workers from the Department of Water and Sewer transfered into the REGJB because their union contract requires that they be moved rather than laid off.

Court: The clerk will quash the warrant.

Clerk: Wash what?

Court: Estreat the bond.

Clerk: Under the street?

Court: Forget it, I'm taking a bathroom break.

Clerk: Oh, I fixed the leak and cleared the line. Just jiggle the handle after you flush.

Or something like that....

The article details serious problems like the reassignment of Demetrius Hadley- a fifteen year veteran who ran the complex docketing division and essentially insured that the trains ran on time and the cases were timely set on calendar.

Hadley was replaced with a more senior supervisor who has no experience in docketing.

How would you like it if, say, you were in a car accident and after having been rushed to JMH, a podiatrist was assigned to the ER because the trauma surgeon had been bumped by someone with a longer tenure at the hospital?

That in a nutshell (and that's an appropriate word) is what is happening at our clerk's office.

Clerks do a thankless job. We often ignore them when they do everything right (99.9% of the time) and loudly blame them when something is fouled up.

Get ready for the foul ups.

We don't want water and sewer employees handling a calendar any more than we want a calendar clerk working on our sewer line. That would be as nonsensical as say....a lawyer who spent a career in civil court becoming a judge and being assigned to criminal court.

We'd never let something as stupid as that happen. Right?

See you in court.