The Worth of a Smile

The other day I was at the Norwalk Courthouse filing a Motion. It was about 95 degrees outside and there was no air conditioning in the tiny little filing room.  It was unbelievably hot and ridiculously crowded. 

I probably waited 40 minutes just to get up to the window.  And… of course, I forgot a local form!  For those non-lawyers out there, some counties have specific pieces of paper that you need to have with whatever you are filing with the court and for some reason, I always forget to add that form.

The filing clerk was really rude… probably because she was hot and had been dealing with really frustrated people all day.

I was so frustrated because she told me that I would have to go get the form from another window and stand in the line ALL OVER AGAIN.  I wanted to die.  But, instead of getting really frustrated, I just stayed really calm, kept smiling, asked her a few questions {to make sure I never made the same mistake again}, and thanked her a couple times. 

Right before I walked away from the window, she said, “You know what, you don’t need to wait.  Once you are done filling out the form, just come straight back to my window.  I can help you.” 

And, so, I did not have to wait in the hot and smelly room again!  I filled out the form as quickly as possible and went back up to the window.  She helped me immediately and I was out of there!

Keeping a smile on my face saved me almost an hour.