We'll Miss You, George

The legal community lost a fine member yesterday. That's lamentable, of course. But more importantly, the world at large lost a kind man.

His name was George, and he was an attorney at the firm where I work. He had worked here for more than 40 years. Such longevity is rare these days. His death was sudden and unexpected, and that makes it a little harder to cope with than it might have been otherwise.

I didn't work directly with George, so my assertion that he was a fine lawyer is based more on comments from his peers and colleagues, and the reputation of this firm, than anything else. But I can tell you first hand that he was a nice guy.

I've been here just over a dozen years. I'm a lowly secretary, a member of what is known as "support staff." I don't earn six figures. I don't have a string of letters following my name. I don't have an office, and my own peers out there in Legal World probably have never heard of me. That's okay. To George, and to other attorneys in this firm, I'm maybe just a little bit more than a mere secretary. I'm a person, with a name and a face and feelings and everything.

In the few years that I worked under the same roof with George, I met him coming and going in the hallways pretty much every day. I do not recall a single time when he didn't smile at me and say, "Hi, Melody." Not one time did he fail to address me by name, even though the most work I ever did for him may have been to make a copy of something. Is this a big deal, really? You bet it is.

In a world where corporate bigwigs loot their own companies, steal their employees' retirement savings, lay people off and burden the remaining employees with overwhelming amounts of work as a result just to save a buck (or rather, to put a little more into their own pockets), do little or nothing to foster employee loyalty, focus on the bottom line and nothing else, and don't even bother to learn underlings' names, it's gratifying to work with someone like George. Despite his seniority and his position as an owner of this firm, I doubt that it ever occurred to him not to know the name of the guy who delivered his mail. He may never have actually said this, but I'd be willing to bet that George understood the importance of good support staff--and the importance of making us feel like we are vital to the firm. Most of the attorneys here seem to have that same understanding. I think that's why people stay here, and I think it goes a long way toward explaining how this firm got such a good reputation. I realize that not all of the staff here feel the same way. Probably they didn't see George as often as I did.

Before long, we will be merged with another firm, and we'll be a lot bigger than we are right now. I can only hope that some things don't change.

Yesterday was a pretty rough day for this firm. It was quiet; people talked in hushed voices; some wept openly (I know I did). I passed by George's office several times on my way to wherever I was going to do whatever I was doing. It was odd to see his door standing open and not see him sitting at his desk, odder still to realize that I will never see him there again. His loss will be felt for a long, long time to come.

Goodbye, George. I hope when I'm gone, people will miss me half as much as we already miss you.