Pressure That’ll Tip, Tip, Tip ‘Til You Just Go Pop!

My law office added a new department and hired an attorney and a paralegal to run it. Six months later, in 2021, they were overwhelmed with new clients, so they hired me as a paralegal, along with a few others. It was chaotic and highly disorganized.

A new system was implemented before I came to work there. Some of the older cases that were closed before I came to work there were missing important documents as a result of the new system, and a year later, my boss wanted me to find the missing documents.

The problem was that he emailed documents to clients, and he would have those documents — that is if he still had the emails or at least saved them. I advised the boss of this.

Me: “These are old cases. They were closed before the new system was implemented. Do you have the emails that contain those documents, or did you save them on your computer?” 

Boss: “I will need to check.”

A week later…

Boss: “Did you find those documents?”

Me: “No. I emailed you last week. These are old cases from before the new system was implemented. Do you still have those emails or any documents saved?”

Boss: “I will need to look.”

The following week, my coworker who was the one initially hired into the department called me.

Coworker: “[Boss] told me that he sent you an email regarding some documents being missing from files and you still haven’t done them yet.”

Me: “I have not been able to as the problem is that these are old cases from before the new system was implemented and [Boss] was just emailing the documents to clients. I emailed him twice already and he said he would look.”

Coworker: “I see. So, [Boss] would have those documents somewhere in his emails or computer then.”

Me: “Right. These cases were from 2020.”

Coworker: “Okay. He should have sent you the documents as soon as he closed the case. What happened to them?”

Me: “The cases from 2020?”

Coworker: “Yes.”

Me: “I didn’t work here then. I was hired in 2021. He couldn’t have sent me anything since I didn’t work here then.”

Coworker: “I see what you are saying, but you are responsible for that.”

Me: “Why is that? I didn’t work here then, and [Boss] said he was responsible for those documents.”

Coworker: “That is true in a sense, but you are the one who is responsible.”

Me: *Confused* “For the cases since the time I came to work here, I am responsible. But these cases were from 2020, and [Boss] said he was responsible for those.”

Coworker: “No, you are responsible for all cases. Even if they’re from five years ago, you are still responsible for them. You will be blamed for it.”

Me: “So, what you are saying is if it’s a case that closed five years ago, I am responsible for any errors that happened? Even if I didn’t work here then?”

Coworker: “Yes.”

I quit the next day.