Meh.

[dc_chef]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
BR(I cannot imagine why anyone would pay significant money (meaning in BRC cheapskate world: more than two digits) for a watch, or sunglasses (or a lot of other things, but, given my complete inability to not lose or sit on those two items, they particularly baffle me). . . . )C

Try on a pair of Oakleys, and you'll notice a difference. The quality of the lenses is very very good. And if you get them to make you a prescription pair, you'll be very pleased.

[Shape Shifter]

Will you have to pay for your own internet access, too?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
Quite right.

Chinaski - w 10:25

PLF - ow 12:29

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski

I'd work off the floor for awhile until they back down.

Better, set up client meetings in your office.

This could be like a new arrested development.

FWIW, I worked at a firm that was plenty generous with pretty much everything. Except office chairs. Every associate was issued the same, cheap Staples-type roller chair (MSRP $99). All of them were at least 5 years old, so the padding was compressed, the cloth dirty or tattered, and the whole thing was generally uncomfortable for the entirety of the many hours they expected us to slave so they could afford to be generous. I lead my departure letter with this fact. It would have made a great part of a book, except that someone else already wrote the same story.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I've worked at a place where you had an allowance from a particular catalog once you made partner- until then you got dreck- but they gave me a dask and chair. I've also worked at a place where the firm provided everyone with very inexpensive furniture. If you wanted more, you could spend your money. Only the fancy partners did so.

I've never heard of not giving anything. I'd work off the floor for awhile until they back down. plus, once word got around, someone eccentric, like Madonna might decide she digs the whole basic "lawyer on floor" approach and you'd get a new client. that would put some art on the walls.

He should get an allowance.

If things get really bad, I have a chair (lounge? whatever) that was on my deck two houses ago and an old-fashioned wooden card table with four wooden folding chairs with seats upholstered in a retro yellow-and-gold fabric that you may have. Please be aware that the chairs seem short to me, and I am not tall.

But hey, it'd be something.

[str8outavannuys]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
He should get an allowance.

If things get really bad, I have a chair (lounge? whatever) that was on my deck two houses ago and an old-fashioned wooden card table with four wooden folding chairs with seats upholstered in a retro yellow-and-gold fabric that you may have. Please be aware that the chairs seem short to me, and I am not tall.

But hey, it'd be something.

I think I need to clarify that they'll give me a very basic desk and chair, which may be too short for me, but no bookshelves (which I like to use to store my law school text books (no room for them at home) and CDs), and certainly nothing fancy.

Sigh, Design Within Reach, here I come.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by dc_chef
Try on a pair of Oakleys, and you'll notice a difference. The quality of the lenses is very very good. And if you get them to make you a prescription pair, you'll be very pleased.

Good polarized sunglasses make a noticeable difference. Unfortunately, like BRC, I break sunglasses often.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
I think I need to clarify that they'll give me a very basic desk and chair, which may be too short for me, but no bookshelves (which I like to use to store my law school text books (no room for them at home) and CDs), and certainly nothing fancy.

Sigh, Design Within Reach, here I come.

Throw away the law school textbooks, already. Jesus.

The offer of a conference table suitable for little people stands.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I've worked at a place where you had an allowance from a particular catalog once you made partner- until then you got dreck- but they gave me a dask and chair. I've also worked at a place where the firm provided everyone with very inexpensive furniture. If you wanted more, you could spend your money. Only the fancy partners did so.

I've never heard of not giving anything. I'd work off the floor for awhile until they back down.

The problem here is figuring out how personal taste can coexist with the rest of the office. My personal tastes run to mid century modern, but that wouldn't have gone at all with the French provencial look that my last firm had.

If "decorate" really means "furnish," I second the used office furniture suggestion. Large offices redecorate all the time, and they often have NO idea what they have when they get rid of their old furniture. My brother redecorated his apartment on a shoestring a few years ago, and he spent a lot of time pouring through used office furniture warehouses and found goldmines. Beautiful designer chairs that are still in production for a fraction of their cost. Desks and credenzas that are beautifully finished (and heavy as shit, I'm never helping my brother move again). There is no reason in the world that anyone in California should pay full price for an Aeron chair (str8 should probably look for an extra large one, since he's tall).

If "decorate" means "adorn," benefit auctions, in my experience, have been the best places to pick up nice artwork for a reasonable price.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Better, set up client meetings in your office.

This could be like a new arrested development.

FWIW, I worked at a firm that was plenty generous with pretty much everything. Except office chairs. Every associate was issued the same, cheap Staples-type roller chair (MSRP $99). All of them were at least 5 years old, so the padding was compressed, the cloth dirty or tattered, and the whole thing was generally uncomfortable for the entirety of the many hours they expected us to slave so they could afford to be generous. I lead my departure letter with this fact. It would have made a great part of a book, except that someone else already wrote the same story.

I worked there.

I was in a satellite office of what passes for biglaw here. We got the cast off furniture. The firm closed a few Florida offices (point comes later) right after I joined.

My first chair is cloth with rips in the arms. It was once a nice chair, but I was young enough to have illusions of plush law firm life so I ask the office manager for a different non-ripped chair. Nothing happens for a few months, with periodic pestering.

Then, as I'm coming back from lunch one day, I see her sneaking this silly high backed ORANGE vinyl chair into my office. My replacement chair! The best part was it had rips too.

Anyway, I decide that this is the sort of fuck you that can only be taken with a "you aren't bugging me" smile. I'd keep the chair after i made partner. Some day I'd still be sitting in the chair as I ran the entire firm.

A few years later the firm announced it had decided to sell the Florida furniture it had been paying to store for the past few years. At the sale were 4 dozen leather chairs THEY HAD BEEN PAYING TO STORE.

I think it was some sort of motivational tool.

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
I think I need to clarify that they'll give me a very basic desk and chair, which may be too short for me, but no bookshelves (which I like to use to store my law school text books (no room for them at home) and CDs), and certainly nothing fancy.

Sigh, Design Within Reach, here I come.

Take the basic desk and chair. Buy a couple of Billy cases from IKEA for the books and then take your time.

Start looking around for used/vintage/antique stuff. Antiques are easy, but you can also pick up some mid-century modern stuff that's interesting and in good shape really cheap if you look around. At one point I had a nice 60s era desk from some Italian manufacturer (I can't remember who) that my firm at the time had picked up for about $100 in an explosion of another firm.

DWR has pretty decent prices on what they sell, but you can do a lot better on the used market. Even eBay sometimes has some nice stuff. Search "eames" - it'll pull up not just eames stuff, but a lot of mid century modern stuff ("eames era").

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
I think I need to clarify that they'll give me a very basic desk and chair, which may be too short for me, but no bookshelves (which I like to use to store my law school text books (no room for them at home) and CDs), and certainly nothing fancy.

Sigh, Design Within Reach, here I come.

I love DWR as much as anyone, but you might still want to check out the office furniture warehouses and E-Bay if you have time before dropping cash on beautiful, new, designer furniture.

And Sit For Less is cheaper than DWR if you can't find a used Aeron chair.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
The problem here is figuring out how personal taste can coexists with the rest of the office. My personal tastes run to mid century modern, but that wouldn't have gone at all with the French provencial look that my last firm had.

If "decorate" really means "furnish," I second the used office furniture suggestion. Large offices redecorate all the time, and they often have NO idea what they have when they get rid of their old furniture. My brother redecorated his apartment on a shoestring a few years ago, and he spent a lot of time pouring through used office furniture warehouses and found goldmines. Beautiful designer chairs that are still in production for a fraction of their cost. Desks and credenzas that are beautifully finished (and heavy as shit, I'm never helping my brother move again). There is no reason in the world that anyone in California should pay full price for an Aeron chair (str8 should probably look for an extra large one, since he's tall).

If "decorate" means "adorn," benefit auctions, in my experience, have been the best places to pick up nice artwork for a reasonable price.

I'll miss my chair. *sniff*

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
PLF - ow 12:29

I need to be candid with you. This was one of your weaker posts in a long history of weak posts. It is the functional equivalent of writing "I know you are but what am I." What is the message you are sending to the long-time-lurker-potential-newbers? That you can just post whatever sort of derivative drivel that happens drip out of your brain and onto the keyboard? I understand your concern that, if this board becomes too filled with rapid, rapier-like, uber-witty exchanges, then potential Newbers may be intimidated and consequently unwilling to jump into the fray. May I politely suggest we are currently in little danger of such a result? Let's all do our part to raise the bar, both substantively and otherwise.

Think of the Newbers, Hank. Think of the Newbers.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Ooh, I have one of those my daddy got me when I was 11. Hoo-rah for cheap coral rings!

BR(I cannot imagine why anyone would pay significant money (meaning in BRC cheapskate world: more than two digits) for a watch, or sunglasses (or a lot of other things, but, given my complete inability to not lose or sit on those two items, they particularly baffle me). The best watches the Mr. and my father ever had, per them, were fake rolexes purchased in Kuala Lumpur and South-Central LA respectively. My father's lasted for 30 years and kept excellent time. The Mr.'s stepfather crammed his real rolex in a drawer and stole the Mr.'s fake because the $15,000 watch was a POS. Grand fountain pens make about as much sense to me as expensive watches, but no one claims any sort of superior utility justification for fountain pens.)C

1. I am sworn to Revos for life. I never lose them and can't live without them. I have green/grey eyes, so its imperative I have good shades, cause I can't take the sun. I'd go Maui Jim, but I don't like the styles as much.

2. I've heard the "A Timex is as good as any watch, and and expensive watch is just advertising class insecurity" argument before. Fine. I'm a boorish yuppie jackass who likes a nice watch. I've had a lot of money in my pocket and I've had a little money in my pocket. Its only fun for spending anyway. Blowing a few grand on watches ain't going to be the difference between you retiring a bizarre miser at 50 or a harried, half dead burnt out lawyer at 65.

The whole "Millionaire Next Door" thing is horseshit. It cites fifty guys who lived lousy boring lives, squeezing pennies, and managed to squirrel away a pile of dough to start living at 50 (just in time for pancreatic cancer and heart disease). It doesn't even consider the thousands of people who did the same thing and didn't wind up with a million bucks. ...Another stupid self help book based on only the half of the data which supports the author's position.

And yet people swear by this bullshit like its fucking scientifically proven fact. I wonder if they also read that book by that convicted felon (fraud) who claims the govt is holding back an herbal cure for HIV and cancer. I believe he's sold about 3 million copies already.

Why I am writing here? I am a fool.