Drive by lawyering
One thing I am lucky to not have to worry about as a librarian is people asking me for free professional advice at parties. I mean not one person has ever drawn me close over a drink and said,
"I'm sorry to bother you with this. But if you have a moment could you give me your opinion on a situation I am dealing with. I really wonder what IS the best way is to classify my cookbooks -- by course or preparation method?"
Sure I work in IT so I have done hours of service on my FIL's workstation, my auntie's digital camera, I have even fielded some questions on image archiving for a neighbour who wants me to go over their setup... but enough bragging about how saavy I am. I am preaching to the choir... n'est ce pas?
My point?
This is nothing like being a member of one of the fashionable, good enough to be a tv show professions like doctorage, or teachering sometimes or especially lawyerentology. (I find the power of the latter profession so strong that people will even seek lawyer's-wife-legal-advice from me as a proxy. hahahahaha.)
I have a rule around here: NO advice for relatives -- ESPECIALLY PARENTS. Anything given is a schpiel and not actually advice. It is worth what it costs only -- which is nothing. The potential flighty legal interpretations that can compound at a lawyers house, answering machine or cocktail party, are considerable. Hell even our car is a target.
After E. was born I started wondering if I could get p-man's opinion about a little issue I have about driving to my parents house. You see coming home the HOV lane is for 2+ persons so obviously we can use it when I'm in the car with p-man. But on the way there the lane is 3+ persons. Now in Canada a child is not a legal person, so I wonder, is this intentional? Can I use the lane with two adults and one child? Or with one adult and two children?
Of course due to my rule I still haven't got a straight answer from the p-man. This is not at all unusual.
posted by mo-wo at 1:46 p.m.
5 Comments:
Gabe is an engineer and a guy at preschool has already accosted him about looking at his home addition.
What the hell?
Moms on the other hand, love it when people ask us for advice.
Go figure.
Ok, I am a big nerd, so I looked up the HOV rules in Ottawa (although I can't actually remember where you live, so this may or may not apply). It said "person" but defined person as "passenger" and "driver". A child may not be a legal person, but he or she is certainly a passenger, right? (not advice, just googling)
I had no idea that a child is not a legal person. That sounds horrible. At what age does this change?
It seems like we should celebrate that birthday to the extreme. I'd send cards and bake cakes that read "Happy Becoming a Person day!"
What .. children are not legal persons?!
I think that they do count as a passenger though.
My husband is an art director and people always thinks that means he can give them home decorating advice. Even I get asked "what colour should I paint my living room? Your husband is an art director right?" I donno - Fushia. Ya fushia sounds good.
The new HOV on one of our in-city highways is for two people, and lots of moms were getting pulled over in the initial make-sure-they-know-we-mean-it sweep, but were let go without tickeeting, as they were assured that they were indeed two people.
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