Despite being foreign, my knowledge of our industry, as I have mentioned, perhaps too often, surpasses some of those who are not only natives but in the trade! My husband is known as 'The Guru', because his nature is not only to learn the basics, but to have the complete 'bigger picture', as he says. His staff are also expected to know everything there is to know, and the requirement are for anyone who is hoping to function in our office, to first be familiar with the Texas rules of civil procedure. It is not a few aspects here and there, it is a rather large publication, full of rules and applications. Of course, rules can be over-ruled, or re-ruled, and those who are providers of legal services should (should) be familiar with such rules. It is not our job to supervise the legal industry, but quite often they do not know what they do not need to know! Sometimes, a well intended prompt can be misconstrued as an insult to intelligence, or education and is not taken as a helpful measure. I am always very careful in the way I word the facts. Some find me offensive, and others educational. Some wish to refer the matter to 'the Guru' and others are quite happy to accept my opinion. All this to say, my week was full of those who appreciated my knowledge.
"Where are you from?" asked the lady who delivers the 'overnights'. I replied, as I always do, "Northwest London". It is the easiest of answers, without being too technical. Living in the largest contiguous state, being part of a much larger country, anywhere in the tiny speck from whence I hail, becomes my 'back yard'. "You have never been to Scotland?" is like, "You have never travelled into the next city/ town/village/road? Some, not all, (and always to those who have not been,) consider it odd that I would have have walked the stone's throw to the neighbouring northern country! However, I digress. "I want to go to Scotland", said the delivery lady. I admitted that I had never been, and she seemed slightly perplexed, but then when I said I had travelled to all fifty states, it seemed to put things into perspective. "Wow. Not me!" she said, almost pridefully. She chatted for a while and asked my advice on going to London. As always, my advice is, "Go!" Thus started my Monday morning!
The solicitation for my knowledge came a while later. One of our fellow servers in Houston called to ask a question. Working for a company that was set up not long after my husband's inauguration, and being one of the founder members of said company, the owner of which was mentored by 'the Guru', when such questions are asked, said 'Guru' tends to ask, "How do you not know that?" It is never said in a condescending way, but more of an exclamation of surprise. Hence, the questions are normally directed at ne. I started off my answer with the words, "The statute reads", and quoted as best I could from the said rules of civil procedure, in my best possible English accent! The 'best possible' was not to show superiority, but it sort of slipped out, like a 'telephone voice'. "As a foreign entity is served through the Secretary of State, through the Long Arm Statute....", I began. I continued to tell her that the process after we had delivered the documents, and the outcome of said process, was not our concern. Our job was to 'serve', or as we have to say in our documentation, 'deliver', as the word 'serve' on a filed affidavit could invalidate 'service'. What transpires after our job is done is between other parties. "But I why would I deliver to the Texas Department of Transportation if the person has a driving license from Virginia?" she continued. I replied that as the Secretary of State became the default servee, for a foreign entity (out of state) so the Transportation Department became the default servee for the foreigner who was named in the lawsuit. It all sounded very technical, but in fact it makes life (or our work) a lot simpler! There was silence from the other end of the phone. "Hello?" I said. "Wow. I am impressed!" came the exclamation. I admitted that I was taught by the best. "Yep. That's why we call him 'The Guru', but I don't always remember the answers!" "How did she not know that?" asked my husband when I relayed the conversation to him. "And that is why she asked me!" I said, with a smile on my face. "At least she was asking", I continued, and a shred of recognition to the fact appeared across his furrowed brow! Perhaps she asked for one of her clients, and could go back with confidence and possibly and air of superiority, but I cared not.
I felt rather happy at being the one to be able to convey the facts to a colleague, and even more so that she had sought my opinion.
town' guy was out of the office, I offered to help. He asked my opinion, something that is not often asked by law enforcement, and I gave him a couple of options. He appeared to appreciate my advice, and then I conveyed the conversation to our client. Thankfully, the particular client knows that 'the Guru' trains his disciples well, and has confidence that my options would be those of said 'Guru'. It was a great start to the week.
Admittedly, I am not put off by those who consider the accent indicates no knowledge at all, and as some law firms employ 'accents' merely to answer the phone, as apparently, it adds a flavour of 'upper class', there are those who find it offensive. I can understand why. Of course, there are those that are just offended, full stop!
Our week continued, with slightly warmer mornings than previously, and sunny days. My plants, despite some looking a little forlorn, and some having succumbed to the frost, had in the main, done quite well. New blooms had appeared, and that was quite amazing, considering they are in pots, and should be quite dead by now, according to those who have been harvesting for longer than I.
Old recipes were dug up, and experimental dinners were eaten by 'the Guru', with gusto.
A dispute with one of the 'overnight' delivery service had left our account unusable, and so an alternative was sought. Having decided to use the services of the smaller company, Lone Star, 'the Guru' took the package himself to the drop box. It was no longer at the place where we used to drop it. We tried to call the main office, here in town, but they were not taking calls. We tried several other options. They did not respond to a 'facebook' message, nor to email. This should have been a sign. However, there appeared to be a box in a building 'down the road'. I offered to drive there. Said 'overnight' companies have also taken to using contractors, and therefore, use vehicles that are not marked. One such vehicle used is from the car rental place 'Budget'. 'Budget' vans and trucks are constantly seen in our car park, and the surrounds. I drove down the freeway, came off two exits after ours, and doubled back to the bank building that purported to have the drop box outside. It was not outside. I drove around to the car park, and found it was an enormous multi storey building, with no parking on the ground floor! I drove straight out, not able to park outside the actual bank, so I could not decipher whether the box was inside. As I exited the car park, I was on a small road with buildings to the left, right and ahead. I thought I would drive around and see if I could locate a box. As I drove to the next building, I spotted a 'Budget' van. "Gotcha!" I thought. I would wait for the driver to come back to his vehicle, and ask if he could take the package, or at the very least let me know where I could find the drop box. I pulled up behind the van, spotting a man who looked like a delivery person, in shorts and a shirt, and carrying a couple of boxes. To my horror, as I went to get out of the car, the van in front of me drove off! I shut my door, buckled up, put the car in drive, and quickly sped off after the moving vehicle. We came to a stop sign, and I followed him to the right. He drove along the road, and turned at the next exit. I followed. He then moved across three lanes to get into the far left hand lane. I followed. He then made a course re-direction, and cut across the said three lanes to turn right. I followed, perhaps a little too closely, to avoid the car coming up in the right hand lane from coming between us. We turned right, and right again. As we entered a small commercial lot, the van slowed, and eventually came to a halt. I stopped and leapt out of the car, to come face to face with the delivery guy. "Oh. You are UPS!" The young man, dressed in brown, looked at me, a little confused. "I thought you were Lone Star. I am needing a Lone Star box. I am sorry". Recognising me, as he has delivered to the office before, he started to laugh. "I wondered who was following me!" he said, and started to laugh again. He could not tell me where a Lone Star box was, and did not reprimand me for not using his company, but instead, wished me a good day, and weekend, and went on his way, shaking his head with an enormous grin on his face. I went back to the office, and convinced 'the Guru' to use the post office service, which may arrive the next day. My 'man' would collect it in ten minutes!
The experience on Thursday prompted 'the Guru' to try and sort out the dispute with the third 'overnight' company, which he did after speaking to several different people, in several different departments. They finally admitted that they were at fault, by charging for a delivery that was not delivered. I think the fact that their legal department realised it was a law suit, and the sending lawyers were rather unhappy at the papers being stuck at the depot, forced the delivery company to retract their demands for payment. 'The Guru' may know 'his stuff', but the lawyers were the people who would take up the gauntlet! All's well that ends well!
The week was over, and the weekend began. Our annual meeting for our homeowners' association was held via phone, or video conference call. It was rather efficient. For my part I prefer the convenience. 'The Guru' prefers attending in person. He doesn't do the grocery shop on Saturday!
Sunday arrived a little too quickly, as it generally does! It was a beautiful morning, and the sun was shining. A little on the chilly side, I took myself for a late walk. After breakfast, I walked again. "Hey are we early, or are you late?" asked a couple of neighbours. "Or is this your second walk?' one of them said. I felt my eyes drop as I admitted it was my second walk. "Yeah, thought so. Should have known" they said, laughing. I apologised. All was done in gest. I do have good neighbours!
Another cold front is due to blow through midweek, and I am prepared to cover the plants and wear my coats that I was told I would not need to bring with me, all those years ago! The sun is still shining, and I am ready to start a new week. February is upon us! Hopefully, we will not have a repeat performance of last year's cold front experience, but my knowledge of the future is not as proficient of that of rules of civil procedure! The answer to that will remain to be seen in ............ another story!
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