The superior courthouse… many people don’t like going to court and often times don’t understand how hearings and motions work when processing a court case. But if you work here, the job is like any other job, you go in at 8am and come out at 5pm. You sit at a desk for 9 hours a day doing paperwork and stare at a screen. Once you finish staring at that screen for hours you go home, sleep and repeat the cycle for many years to come.
This is what I wanted though, or at least I thought I wanted this life. I went to school to study criminal justice, got my degree, started working in a few smaller legal clinics until I worked my way up to the all mighty courthouse! Finally at 22 years old I made it. I got the job and I started working in the civil litigation department. For those of you who may not know, civil litigation is usually just when one person owes another person money, no murders, no illegal activities, just debts. And let me tell you, people have a lot of debt. Every day, in my county alone, hundreds of new cases are filed with only 10 civil litigation legal processors to get through it all. I was one of them.
When a legal case starts: you submit a complaint or what others are more familar with, a petition. A complaint will be set for hearing after you pay the fee. This complaint is usually just a few pages to fill out and someone at the front window can help you simi-kinda-sorta fill it out if they are not bussy or moody. It’s not very often that they are in a helpful mood so don’t count on it. After, you can submit declarations and other documents; this is basically just proof for your case. Once the hearing is done and the judge decides what to do, that’s where I come in. I come in to help get back the winning party’s money. This involves writs and abstracts that put liens on properties or access to bank accounts. No one ever likes this process because usually the losing party has no money hence why they are in debt in the first place.
I did this for about two years. All of my co-workers were nice and I had no issues with any of them. I especially liked working with my managers, they were very understanding and one of them was even young like me. I was the youngest one in my department and everyone definitely noticed but in a nice way. They would make comments like telling me I was the same age as their daughter or how I’m too young to know something about the real world. I didn’t mind since I was here to learn.
The first year was great, I loved it! I know I had picked the right career path. The work was easy for me, I always loved paperwork and the work was steady. There aren’t many surprises in a court of law and the pay was pretty decent. I made more than any of my friends did but… the rosie glasses come off, I look at my co-workers and they don’t seem happy. I walk into the dark courthouse at 8am and the first thing that greats me are the florescent lights beaming into my eyes. The courthouse is always cold no matter what the season is outside. No windows for views or sunlight. For 10 hours I am inside four walls and some days I don’t even get to see daylight, but hey that’s what everyone does right?
Now that I am more comfortable with my co-workers I start asking them more questions. All of my co-workers have been there for 15+ years and it’s crazy because I’ve never done anything for 15 years. I start to get curious as to what my life could look like in ten years since this is such a good career. I am not liking the conversations I’m having with my co-workers though. I got into the legal field so that I never had to suffer or worry about money. My parents always worried about money and I didn’t want that for me. All of my co-workers that are in there 40’s and 50’s are renting with their families, driving older cars, and not taking a real vacation.
I’m not kidding on the vacation part; whenever someone took a few days off it was to go run errands or just stay at home to relax in front of the TV. None of my coworkers are traveling to New York, the Bahamas, or maybe even just to there big bear cabin for the weekend and this was worrying me. I don’t like the idea of working everyday and not being able to afford my own place or get a decently nice car or especially not be able to go travel two weeks out of the year! Trust me I know that life is hard and everything that can go wrong will go wrong but two weeks is not to much to ask for when getting away to relax a bit.
I kept working… on my second year I decided to buy a very broken down condo a few blocks away from the courthouse. I was an incredibly stressed out 24 year old buying a condo where I had to patch up the walls, fix some electrical, updates etc. For me it’s a big project and I am already working a full time job trying to see friends and family while still trying to find time for myself. It’s hard and it’s a lot of work but I get through it. I’m incredibly tired and everyone at work thinks I’m crazy for buying a condo at my age. Telling me I should have waited but I’ve never been very good at waiting, plus I hear that real estate is always a good investment so why not?
I am going on my third year at the courthouse and not much has changed: the paper work, the work never becomes any less, the same faces at work everyday, the civilians coming into the courthouse always angry, sad, or incredibly confused. The only change this third year is that now I am handling restraining order cases. This now involves seeing people’s pain in person, no more hiding behind my paperwork and I don’t like it. When people get a restraining order against a person it’s because the person is afraid or needs help.
I am still doing my civil litigation cases this year. I should have cherished my first year working here more than I did because my managers noticed how good of a worker I am. It’s why they decided to give me more work, more cases, and now restraining orders. This involves me going into the courtroom to listen about people’s stories and taking notes about the case. I prep the paperwork while the case is going on and I print out the forms to be ready in the next few minutes to give it to the parties on whatever decision the judge made. When I am handing these papers to the parties, it’s me standing inches away from either a violent person, a crying person, a convicted felon or a person who is desperate, no one is ever happy.
I am definitely getting tired and I have not even completed three full years on the job. My case load has quadrupled, I don't get to see my friends and family anymore, I’ve gained a considerate amount of weight from just sitting inside a courthouse all day for years, and I have almost reached my wage cap. Only one more dollar and thats it $24 dollars for the next few years.
Now of course life is getting in the way, my family needs me and I need to take some time off. My family lives over an hour away and I need permission for family emergencies and this year I had several. After giving this job my all for a few years and needing to ask to leave for my own familiy really bugs me. The courthouse is great though, you might be reading this and think they treat their workers wrong but no that’s not just the courthouse, it’s how all 9–5 jobs are. My mangers are great, they give me the time off with almost no notice and every month that passes by I realize I need more and more time off from work. My time off is counted on the books and my time off is running out and I haven’t taken my vacation for the year yet. Then the worst possible thing happened to my family; I lost someone. The courthouse has been great, they allowed me to take as much time as I needed until I was okay to come back.
After realizing that I have no control over my life and with this job there is little to no freedom, (let’s face it I am not making boat loads of money, I am not happy, and my coworkers are not happy) my breaking point came. I needed more time than just a few weeks off, my entire life had just changed. When I came back to work I just couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted more time, I wanted to be able to do more with my life instead of just sitting in a court house for the next ten years gaining more weight and wrinkles.
Of course more life changing events happened but I quit right before my third year anniversary with the courthouse. If you ever want to work for the government- go for it, nice steady work that is decent in pay and pretty stable. I am not writing this to try and deter you away but I do want to be honest with you. I needed more time, if I need to be there for a friend or family member or even just for myself I want to be able to do that with more flexibility on time. I don’t want to worry about money and luckily so far I haven’t. I’ve now chosen another path but that’s a story for another time. I couldn’t do the 9–5 type of work environment anymore. Life doesn’t schedule it’s self for you so I had to find something for me to try and live my own life at my own schedule no matter what life throws my way.
Everyone has to figure out what is right for them. And when what you found that worked for you no longer works you need to find the next thing that is right for you. You keep evolving and changing and you need to follow with what suits you so that you don’t get stuck and comfortable. Go with the flow of life even though it can be scary at times. I see this now, I thought I had picked the wrong career path. How could I put all that time in studying law and then just quit the courthouse? But life is all very much more complicated just like for everyone else so deciding to take another path is just what I needed.
It’s been a year since I left the courthouse and thankfully I have lost most of the weight that the courthouse had given me. I have been able to spend more time with my family and friends. I have been able to find some ways to make money in ways I never thought possible. By the way the condo I purchased ended up being a good purchase. I finished remodeling it and started renting it out which was good because it left me with no bills. Quitting the courthouse was not easy, everyone has bills but the condo helped. Just know it’s never too late to change if you are not happy. I’m not saying I’m completely happy right now but I am happier then I was a year ago, still working on it.
