Thursday, March 03, 2011

No Worries



"Adelaide Simpson?" The petite dark-haired woman carried a clipboard and looked around the room for movement.

"That's me," a heavy-set woman with fair skin used her arms as leverage on the arm rests of the chair to push herself out of her seat. She hooked her arm through the handles of her purse, then did the same with a different purse that had yarn and knitting needles peeking out of the top. Finally, she looked around and under her seat, picked up a water bottle that still had chunks of ice in it and beads of condensation all over and walked toward the woman with the clipboard.

"My office is just down this hallway and around the corner here," said the woman with the clipboard, "Oh, and I'm Muriel Farmer," Muriel held out her hand as she continued down the hall. Adelaide gave a small congenial smile, switch her bags to her left arm and met her handshake. "Just have a seat anywhere," as they entered the office, Muriel nodded her head toward a couch and a couple of chairs on the left. Muriel sat behind the standard metal office desk on the right and looked over the intake form on the clipboard that Adelaide had filled out when she arrived. Muriel smiled pleasantly and looked up at the woman sitting across from her on the chair, "So how did you hear about us?"

"My friend, Sandy Mirkel recommended it to me when I told her about my situation."

"That name doesn't ring a bell with me, but perhaps she worked with one of our other specialists. I see here, your husband's name is Jeff and he works at Downey and Downey, LLC?"

"Yes, he's up for partner review in the spring." 

Muriel raised her eyebrows, "I see. So if he makes partner, I assume he'll be spending more time at work?"

"Well, actually, he'll get two weeks off before he starts as a partner. He says he should actually be able to spend more time at home since he'll be able to delegate work to the associates and the paralegals…" Adelaide's voice trailed off.

"But you have your doubts?"

"I just keep thinking he'll continue to find reasons to stay away from the house or lock himself in our office at home until late at night and then he leaves before the sun is up. I don't know how he seems to get by on so little sleep."

"In your intake form here, you only checked `Irons his own clothes' for what he does to help around the house."

"He says I don't do it the way he likes it, so he has to do that himself."

"Okay…he doesn't work in the yard? Or do you not have a yard?"

"We have a guy that comes by once a week and mows the grass and trims and stuff like that."

"And have you asked him to help more around the house?"

"Sometimes I've asked him to help with dishes or help me fold laundry on the weekends, but he just says that since he works so many hours during the week, he wants to relax when he gets home and that I should be able to take care of all that since I'm home with the kids all day."

"I think I have the basic idea. It looks like you've filled out the forms completely. I just have some papers for you to sign and then we'll be done here." Muriel opened her file drawer and pulled out three forms. "Just sign at the places indicated."

Adelaide skimmed over the papers, signed all three and handed them back. Muriel stood up and held out her hand. "Thank you very much for coming in Mrs. Simpson. We have a 30-day money back guarantee and you should expect to see results by the end of the week unless any unforseen occurrences arise, in which case, we will contact you immediately."

Adelaide stood up uncertainly. "That's it? You don't need any more information than that?"

"That's it. You gave us everything we need and our specialists will do the rest. You won't have to worry about it."

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