Week 1 of Senior Projects

Blog #1:

Hey there! For my 2021 senior project I decided to continue my work at Schneider Kerr & Robichaux law offices. I have worked there since my freshman summer and have enjoyed every second of it. I keep coming back every year for a few reasons. Firstly, most of the people within the office are super cool. While there, I work in the basement of the building and get to interact regularly with two of my favorite people (Alex and Eron) who also work in the basement. Each year I get an opportunity to learn more about the each of them and their lives, and I am able to learn quite a bit from them. All three of us grew up very differently and it allows us to bring drastically different experiences into situations and discuss/debate/occasionally argue about literally anything. 

I also think that working in a law firm provides a lot of professional experience. At this point, I am planning on going into business and most jobs involving "business" take place in an office setting. Working at the law firm I am able to observe power dynamics of working in an office or the subtle intricacies that go into the functioning of an office(Shredding, taking care of trash/recycling, bathrooms etc.) Not every aspect of working there is about getting "work" done. You have to keep the workplace functioning to be able to do said work. I know this sounds redundant but I had never thought about it in this way and it is proving to be very interesting.

Finally, I get to work on my patience. This is going to sound really bad so I apologize if it's taken in a negative light. Schneider Kerr & Robichaux is a disability law firm that helps clients get SSD and SSI benefits. Many of our clients have serious disabilities, both physical and mental, and often live very difficult lives. One of my main jobs at the law firm is answering phone calls and often times clients call in very angry at the status of their case. It is my job to reassure the client that everything is okay and hand them off to the correct person working on their case. This can be a real test on occasion. Believe it or not, I don't like being yelled at. Especially for stuff that I didn't do. Living with a younger brother, the easiest solution is normally to yell back but if I want to keep my job, this is not smart. Instead I have to keep my cool and interact in a polite manner. 

There are a few goals that I have started thinking about for this project. Most of them are going to be pretty achievable in the next few weeks. First, I want to shred three out of the five days I work in a week. This sounds stupid but trust me. The shredding situation at the office has gotten out of hand and now has its own room dedicated to it. I would also like to clear "the table" every Monday. Monday's are the worst day for mail and I would like to scan every piece of mail that we get on a Monday into the appropriate file folder before the day is over. Finally, I want to take more than 15 calls in an hour. This is the current record for most calls and I want to beat it. There is no incentive or anything it just sounds fun. Below is a picture of my desk. I really had no clue what to take a picture of so I figured I would show you where I spend 5-6 hours Monday-Friday. Thanks!