I just can't. NWR vent.

JCbride2015

I have posted before about my Partner From Hell on a law school clinic (we have a real live client with real live problems, "this is not a drill" type of work).  Quick back story: this girl has been late for every single meeting, turns in work significantly late, has rescheduled important meetings at the last minute because she "didn't sleep well last night," is often MIA for long stretches of time, and the work she does turn in is sub-par.

The problems have intensified, despite the best efforts of my professor and myself.  She was supposed to turn in a document on Sunday and never did.  Then on Monday morning, she was MIA for an important conference call with our client.  Not an internal team meeting... a client meeting.  It was very embarrassing.  My prof went to her class that day after the call to talk to her, but PFH was not in class.  Then PFH emailed me that afternoon about something unrelated, and did not even mention the conference call.  Did not apologize, did not explain, did not ask how it went.

Today we had a regularly scheduled team meeting.  I emailed PFH and Prof and said I thought we needed to talk about expectations and division of work.  PFH  showed up late (per usual) to the meeting, already red-faced and crying.  She apologized in a general way, but then she started playing the victim and said I "misinterpret" what's going on with her.  She said she thought I was just pissed off at her, which is why she didn't tell me why she missed the conference call.  Oh and why did she miss the call?  Because she overslept, due to her "overwhelming insomnia and headaches." (sidebar: it's not my place to judge whether she's lying or not.  But as someone with PTSD, panic attacks, and insomnia, who still manages to get all my work done and keep an honors GPA, I am not impressed.  Everybody has health issues-- professionals manage it and communicate as necessary). 

Prof tried to brainstorm a solution going forward, but PFH said she thought time sheets were "micromanaging" and that it wasn't "fair" that she has to do a timesheet and I don't.  Prof gave her a speech about the importance of her professional reputation, the fact that she has lost trust with both me and Prof, etc.  However, once PFH turned on the waterworks, Prof seemed much more concerned about making her feel better than really holding her accountable.

I have had it up to here.  This is now the third time that we have had a direct conversation about her problem with deadlines and timeliness.  I'm frankly insulted that in this pass/fail class, which makes up half of our semester credits, she might pass and essentially earn the same grade as me.  I'm paying $14,000 for these 7 credits, all so that I can babysit her.

Pass the wine, ladies.

Cookie Pusher

For you, life-twin!

JCbride2015

Cookie, I knew I could count on you for the never-ending wine GIF!  Thanks, life twin!

jdluvr06

I have no GIFS but that super sucks about PFH. Sending you wine and hugs.

lyndausvi

Wow... That royally sucks.

Give me your address I will send you wine.     

I take that back, with all the creepiness going on, send me a  mailbox express PO box and I will send wine to that

Cookie Pusher

If you want to meet on the side of the Turnpike or 1&9, I have a spare bottle of mead. It's wine AND whiskey. It's potent!

RebeccaB88

I think you need another private powow with the professor, to find out just exactly what the hell was up with that and how you are supposed to move forward  I mean, he totally drank her koolaid.  I know you don't want to (and won't) let your client down.  But she appears to have gotten exactly what she wanted from the professor, but she sure as hell won't get that from a paying client. And a senior partner will just fire her sorry ass.  

Any chance she's on drugs? 

JCbride2015

 

RebeccaB88 said:

I think you need another private powow with the professor, to find out just exactly what the hell was up with that and how you are supposed to move forward  I mean, he totally drank her koolaid.  I know you don't want to (and won't) let your client down.  But she appears to have gotten exactly what she wanted from the professor, but she sure as hell won't get that from a paying client. And a senior partner will just fire her sorry ass.  

Any chance she's on drugs? 

@RebeccaB88 My mom thinks she's on drugs.  But she doesn't behave like that when I see her in person, although the erratic sleeping and middle of the night emails might suggest she is.  She says she has legitimate insomnia and headache problems.  Insomnia makes sense because she's up in the middle of the night constantly.  So, I see it as a reason she might work odd hours, but I don't see why it means her work is substandard across the board.

My prof is actually a woman, and I'm somewhat disappointed that tears seemed to work on her.  Thought she would see through that!  She definitely was stern with PFH, but it's clear Prof sees the problem as fixable.  At this point (and I had told Prof this) I would prefer to have PFH taken off the case and I'll work it alone.  It's easier to do it myself than babysit her all the time.

larrygaga

Completely off topic, but here is a joke I heard today.

Why do college girls only hang out in an odd numbered group?

They can't even

KytchynWitche

I don't know how things work over there, so this may not be a viable option for you, but here's what I would do.

1 - Talk to Prof again. Find out whether you can get PFH taken off the case, which is absolutely would happen were this a firm and not a school, and if not, how you can ensure that you are graded separately - you for your efforts, her for hers. Obvs, continue to serve the client to the best of your abilities.

2 - If Prof is a dead end, take it higher up. I don't know who that would be at your school, I don't know the chain of command, but you've discussed this issue both with Prof, and with PFH, on several occasions and the situation is deteriorating, if it doesn't improve after talking to Prof again then it's time to move up the food chain and see what else can be done. Don't be aggressive about this though, say that you're concerned about the way things are being handled.

Again, this is just what I would do. 2 may not be an option at your school though. I dunno...

Also, I'm so sorry that PFH is not playing ball.

pinkcow13

That is complete BS. And being that this is a pass/fail class, chances are that she is going to pass because of you. I have insomnia, and I still manage to get my shit together each and every day. She can take sleep aids (melatonin, it's natural), set a million alarms, drink gallons of coffee, anything. You definitely need to speak to the Prof, because that is not fair to you at all. Plus, what kind of crappy attorney is she going to be if Professors keep enabling her behavior. 

Did you post before that she is well off, and her parents are paying for her education? (I thought I read that before but I could be wrong)  If so, that sounds like spoiled brat syndrome. (I'm not saying that everyone whose parents pay for their education are spoiled brats, but some people are just spoiled).

This is all for you...

JCbride2015

Thanks everybody.  I'm not sure about her financial situation, but she certainly seems like she's been spoiled.  Both parents are college professors, so based on her behavior I'm just guessing: 1) they helped her with a lot of LSAT tutoring and guidance to get into law school, 2) they are reasonably well-off since both are tenured at a major university.  She may also have tuition reciprocity and be paying almost nothing to attend school.  Which makes me furious because she's wasting my time.

I have talked to Prof a couple of times about this and I don't think she will be receptive to changing anything right now.  Prof now says she's going to be the go-between to babysit our deadlines and email us reminders about things.... so we'll see how that goes.  So far, PFH has done nothing since our meeting, when she was supposed to send an email to the client which definitely could have been put together that same day.

Going up the chain would mean putting egg on Prof's face and I really don't want to do that, because she likes me, has said I'm handling the situation well, and I want to ask her for a recommendation after all this is over.

The good part of this is at least the most time-sensitive aspect of the client's problem is over, and most of our deadlines at this point are internal.  I'm not worried about her dragging me under with her if she messes something up, because Prof knows I'm personally on top of things, so I suppose I can just stop reminding her about stuff and let her crash and burn alone.

It really enrages me that this clinic was supposed to be great practical experience, I was so excited for it, and it's turned out to be the worst thing I've done while in school.  I'm miserable.  All that money, half a semester, right down the drain.

loro929

@JCBride2014 Although now you may feel miserable right now, I think some silver lining to this situation is that you are getting a crash-course on "how to diplomatically deal with underperforming colleagues" that you may encounter again in your future career path. In any work environment be it a Fortune500 company or a mom & pop shop, you will always be confronted with people who are not pulling even 1/10 of the weight that you are. Sad but true.

From what you are explaining here, even though it may seem unjust or not fair at the moment, I think in the long run you have learned a very valuable lesson on how to deal with under-performing colleagues in a high-stress environment, which, is a different, yet (in my opinion) equally important type of practical experience.

Keep on keeping on, your almost there!