It’s hard to stay calm, but I will have to try harder 

Stay calm

From time to time, I will meet an individual who has a problem, a legal problem.

Usually, he or she can give me the information I need within minutes of the meeting commencing and I can quickly identify the issues and prospects of success with a claim or legal action. We can go into the matter in greater detail, and he/she can give me more context and I can give an explanation for my views.

Occasionally, however, I will meet a person who believes that talking and telling me their story is more important and who insist on giving me a potted history of everything that has happened over a long period of time.

This can be tremendously frustrating when you are at the end of a busy day and you want to get to the net issue, the meat of the issue.

It can be a struggle to stay calm and just listen, especially when you want to advise the person to the best of your ability as to whether what they propose doing is a complete waste of time and is bound to fail.

Or they have a claim that is worth pursuing and has decent prospects of succeeding.

Sometimes, I lose that struggle.

I regret it afterwards and ponder about the world of difference between how each of us will view the problem that has arisen, usually in the workplace. I do regret it later, no question.

I will have to do better.