A Coach for Solos Sees Lessons in ‘Uppity White Trash’ Experience
A solo-practice coach learned how easy it is to misjudge people during a trip to the supermarket after oral surgery.
Susan Carter Liebel, the founder of the Solo Practice University website and an ABA Journal Legal Rebel, says she looked like “a battered Walmart shopper” when she ventured out to the supermarket in advance of another monster storm. Writing at her blog, she says the surgery left her with a goose-sized bruise on her jaw and an inability to speak clearly. She was bundled up for the weather, wearing no make-up or jewelry.
The problems began when Liebel was overcharged for several boxes of cereal that were supposed to be on sale. When she complained, a manager who looked probably 19 years old was summoned. He explained “in a very annoyed and condescending voice” that the sale had ended, but because the sign still had the lower price he would honor it. Then he walked Liebel over to the customer service representative, and began to tell her about the problem—but he explained it incorrectly, in a way that would have given Liebel the wrong credit. Liebel kept trying to break in, but the manager acted as if she weren’t there.
After the manager left, the customer service person “started to talk to me very loudly and slowly as if I were both deaf and incapable of comprehending,” Liebel says. The representative got the math wrong and it took some time before she realized that Liebel had come up with the correct figure. But it was an unpleasant experience.
“There was no pretense of politeness on her part,” Liebel recalls. “She just bossed me around like a subordinate. After the transaction was completed she dismissively said, ‘Have a nice day.’ And then as I was walking away (drumroll, please) she muttered under her breath, ‘Uppity white trash.’”
Liebel sees a couple lessons in the experience. First, solo practitioners should always dress appropriately because they could meet a potential client or someone who will refer them a client. Second, you shouldn’t judge your own clients by the way they look.
“You don’t have the luxury of being rude or treating a potential client or referrer of clients with anything less than respect because you don’t know who they are, who they know, or how they can influence your professional or personal life,” she writes.
