I did lots of Brief It drills while we were waiting for an attorney to get into court, and then at home, I did some rewriting of an old job. I got a very audacious response when I quoted a law firm a price on their expedited transcript and that got my heartrate up quite a bit. I don't think whoever it was knew any better -- it wasn't the attorney, though I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't know any better. I severely undercharged because their hurry/panic made me hurry and panic and I defaulted to some more freelance-y norms that rely on the stenographer to not be an official; that is, the rate and the paltry increase relies on the stenographer not having sworn an oath on the state constitution to put a 40-plus-hours-a-week job before all other possible responsibilities. So they're getting a stupidly cheap transcript. But their first email was just, "We would need it as soon as possible." I asked when they need it by so that I could calculate the expedited rate, and they gave me a date exactly five days from today, then went, "It should be short..." Yes, indeed. "Dot, dot, dot."

I talked with a colleague on the phone about it later. Rates, time frames when you're in criminal, private attorneys intimidating requests and the way they act like they're normal and how it severely throws me off, editing, taxes, invoices, the unique demands of our particular urban district, and so on. She said the person emailing me probably had no idea what the job was, exactly, but that the comment was still pretty clearly rude. I read her my response and she said that it seemed perfect. I was very firm and not rude at all. In the future, I'll stick to the 60 day typical turnaround for anyone who needs a transcript, because eventually, the requests are going to be rolling in nonstop and it'll be appeal city and I won't have time to stop something with a legally mandated deadline unless it's really, really worth it monetarily. She reminded me that anyone who isn't in the appeals process and who hasn't been a good enough lawyer to get the transcripts they need -- or anyone who hasn't been retained long enough to have a chance -- can and should ask for a continuance because that's how it works. Or at the very least, their scheduling issues don't lower the value of our work. It makes no sense. They need something more and they need it done in less time; we can't work on transcripts at work even if we were technically allowed to because we're constantly filling in and running around with exhibits and blah blah blah; there's very little time outside of work and that time is also taken up by transcripts that are controlled by the law. That doesn't mean they pay less.