Page 244 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
Now that my head seemed to be in good hands, I was ready to use my mind to earn some dollars (it was bad enough that I had wasted some tuition). Using my mind would not exactly be what I did, but I did take Charlie Hirsch’s interview, and I did get a job. I became the United Lawyers Service’s sole representative to the New York County Surro- gates Court. Wow! Well, not exactly wow, but a relatively nice job (for a kid), conducted essentially in a relatively nice atmosphere. United’s mission was to submit documents to, and get documents and informa- tion from, the state courts in New York City on behalf of New York City law firms and sole practitioners. The theory, which apparently was and remains correct, is that it is far less expensive for the law firms to farm out that kind of work than to make it part of their own overhead.
So, every day I would make the most efficient tour that I could of the offices of the Surrogates Court (starting from the fourth floor at Room 402 and working down through Probate, Public Administration, Tax, the Office of the Clerk of the Court, the Record Room, etc.). To me, it was the same as when I waited tables at Kee-Wah. I had to find out the best way to do it; I had to master the job. And I did. I got to the point where I knew and got along with all of the clerks and could complete my rounds in a small fraction of the time that the tour took me when I’d first taken it. Because I became proficient in making my rounds, I would be one of the first to return to the office for the chores that consumed the balance of the day, essentially sorting the incoming material for dis- tribution by messenger to the law firms and then sorting the incoming law firm requests for delivery to each specialist for the resumption of the same cycle on the next court day.
My first sign that I was becoming a respected cog in the machine came when I was permitted by the owner of United, Mr. Sam Futter- man, to become involved in the receipt and distribution of orders that contained checks to be used for filing fees. I could stand inside the cage and take responsibility for the “moneys.” But, before I could get an entirely swelled head from this commission, I was then nominated as the person to be in charge of alphabetical distribution when the office manager was unable to discharge the duties of his office. I would no
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