Time recording - AWK.AWK.01 - Awkward Encounters

Last week my friend and I were doing the usual swap of embarrassing trainee stories. She was telling me about the time a partner left a voice mail on her phone, saying that he'd like to meet up to discuss what they were talking about yesterday. She of course had no idea what he was talking about (or who he was) and it took 15 minutes for her and her PA to work out who he meant instead. The funniest part of the story, was when, at the end, she said in a genuine, frustrated voice, "but what I wanted to know is, how do I bill that time??" It made me laugh so hard! For the non-lawyers reading this, we have to divide up our time into categories: some of it we can charge to the client (called 'billable time'), some is non-chargeable and some falls in categories in between.


AWK.AWK.01

This post is dedicated to a new category of time: AWK.AWK.01. This groups together all of those awkward moments that we, as trainees, encounter weekly if not daily. While realistically, it's not chargeable, it is accountable: a form of 'learning and development' if you will.

Examples of time that can be recorded under AWK.AWK.01

For the first few weeks as a trainee, it was difficult to know which activities should be categorised under which heading, and what kind of narrative (description) you should write. 

A slightly unnecessary Will Gardner gif because I love The Good Wife

Here then are some real life examples, from my and my friends' experiences, of the kind of activities that can be recorded under AWK.AWK.01:

• This time includes the one hour spent researching a list of experts, compiling their areas of expertise, published papers and credentials, only to find out that all of them were dead.

• You were told you could go to the vacation student drinks as long as you kept checking your work phone for when you needed to go back to your desk. You suddenly remembered to check your phone, and saw that you received an email ONE HOUR ago from your associate. So you ran breathlessly to the associate's office and started vomiting apologies and excuses as to why you were an hour late. The 2 minutes spent running, the 3 minutes spent apologising, plus the 1 minute where the associate tells you that if you had read said email, you would know that it said "please don't worry about coming in", are all able to be recorded under AWK.AWK.01

• You are working late in the office. Technology is failing all around you, and it seems that everything you touch turns to crap. So you make a Simpsons reference to your associate, saying that next thing you know you'll be pouring a bowl of cereal and the cereal will catch fire:  

 

Not only does she not get said reference, but it turns out that you forgot to hang up on a phone call to another associate, leaving a 3 minute voice mail message on his machine during which you made this joke. The time spent telling the failed joke, and the time the associate spent listening to the voice mail message, are all accountable. The feeling of pure gratification when the associate tells you that he listened to your 3 minute voice mail message, and got the Simpsons reference, is not awkward at all, and therefore cannot be recorded under this time. Possibly a similar category of “Narrow Wins” should also be implemented.

•  You are pushing a trolley laden with boxes full of paperwork, and you head towards the escalator. You accidentally ram the trolley into the first step, tipping the boxes back onto you, spilling the paper everywhere. The time spent watching hundreds of sheets of paper make their way slowly up the escalator, like a white waterfall of shame; the time spent realising that a small crowd had gathered at the top of the escalator to watch the scene; as well as the time spent collecting all said sheets of paper, may all be recorded under AWK.AWK.01

• An incident affectionately named as the “Matisse Fiasco”: the awkward silence that follows a joke you make to a partner, where you compare a rough drawing you made as part of a bonding activity to Matisse, and the partner very seriously responds “Matisse would never draw that”. This awkward silence, as well as your awkward laughing to cover your uncertainty as to whether this response was serious or possibly a joke at your expense, both fall under AWK.AWK.01:

The important thing to remember, is that this time is accountable: it is not wasted, it is valuable, it is shaping you into the associate that you will become. And if that future associate happens to be more forgiving of trainees and able to have a laugh as a result, then all the better!

PS I feel that AWK.AWK.01 Awkward Encounters will become an ongoing series.