Some Saturday Morning Bitching

Here are a few unrelated tidbits that have irritated me this week.

- If you go to Target and buy the very cheapest remote control possible, is it unreasonable to think that it will take AA batteries? Cheap people do not keep AAA batteries around the house. It took a whole other trip to Target to get AAA batteries to program said cheap remote. At the very least, the box of the remote could have indicated that it required AAA batteries.

- My neighbor insists on shoveling her back stairs (approximately 6 feet from Johan's bedroom) with a loud metal shovel at 11pm. Thanks, neighbor. I'm about to call the noise police on you.

- Yesterday I had a mediation for a work comp case. I am normally a big fan of mediation in civil cases, but this was my first in work comp. The work comp bar is a very small group of attorneys and we all have a very cordial relationship with each other. Opposing counsel on this particular case is a really nice woman and we have settled numerous cases with one another, very amicably. I get to the mediation, and immediately realize that the mediator is a total bitch. She clearly thinks all injured people are liars and fakers and completely discounts every argument we have and every strong fact about our case. Despite her lack of neutrality, we managed to get within a few thousand dollars of each other. I had to leave at 12:30 for another hearing, and the mediator basically threatened me to take the offer or else: "You know, this offer is not going to stay on the table. You don't settle today and you may be hard pressed to settle later." It was all I could do to avoid punching her mullet. I just nodded and said, "Well, I have worked with ____ _____ before, and I'm sure we'll be able to find some common ground." By the time I got back to my office, the opposing counsel had e-mailed me suggesting that we split the difference between my last demand and her last offer. Go figure. And, go to hell, stupid mediator.

That's all for now. Thanks for listening.