Do I have a right to be annoyed?

[rfassett]

I will add my two cents. I am a professional also. I have a staff of four. I take two weeks every year (one at a time) for R & R. (I also take a day here and a day there at other times during the year.) Sometimes I go away and other times I just stay on Veranda Beach. Unless it comes up in normal conversation, I never go out of my way to inform my clients that I will be out of touch. My staff can handle anything that comes up. And as HHM points out, in my practice as well, there is absolutely nothing that will not wait until I return. If it is a true emergency, my staff has my cell phone number (which I guard very closely - only the people on my short list have that number) and they can call me. In all of my years of operating this way, I have neither received a call from the staff nor lost any client over the issue. The reality of the situation is that if I have a client who does not appreciate that I too need time to regroup, then that person can be someone else's client. And just for the record, I do not believe that in any way can be construed as being non-customer service oriented. My firm bends over backwards to satisfy our clients - and our clients know that. We are very reachable and very responsive to their needs.

The question was, "do I have a right to be annoyed?" My answer to that question is an unequivocable "No!"

[Confused14]

I never said attorneys could not go on vacation, they have every right just as we all do. Everyone has their own OPINION and all I was asking for was an opinion. If you feel you don't need to inform clients that you will be away, then that's your opinion.

If I were a lawyer or someone who had clients, I would absolutely inform them I'd be out of the office. It's common courtesy in my opinion. I mean seriously what is the big deal. It's not like I want to know where he's going, when he's going, when he's returning, who he's going with or what hotel he's staying at! It takes 10 seconds to prepare an out of office email which could be done by him or his receptionist. I'd rather do business with someone who made me feel important (even just a little bit) and kept me in the loop than with someone who didn't. It says alot about their character.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Confused.. If your annoyed.. your annoyed. You can not help how you feel. I am sure you will mention your experience to someone( referrals?). Professionally speaking, I think it would have been easier to shoot off an email or phone call that the attorney will not be available during a particular period. The email would state if a need arises so & so will be available to oversee your case.

Unless you deal in law and courts everyday people have anxieties over these issues. I am sure attorneys lose touch with this issue.

[Cali]

I don't get how you put this as common courtesy when it isn't an emergency situation.

I have worked with many clients, both in the US and overseas. I have never informed them of me going on vacation. Now when an emergency came up and I had meetings/projects scheduled with them and had to cancel, they were informed.

Do you work as a professional? Do you have clients? What loop do you think you should be in when the attorney has done is job so far? Are you going to court tomorrow?

[Mi Bankruptcy]

I am a program manager for a state/federal contract. If I am going to be out of the office for longer than 3 days you bet your butt I let people know I will be out of the office. I let them know who they can contact and deal with if an issue arises where they may need assistance. Not only is it common courtesy it's good business practice.

In addition, you don't need to tell them you are going on vacation. You only need to tell them you will not be available.. However, I suppose some clients like surprises... Mine don't

[Flamingo]

Hi Flamingo

But, difference is, you don't have ongoing business with your doc, etc.
If you were in the middle of ongoing business with a CPA, doc, etc., a notification of vacation would probably be forthcoming.
What if you were selling your house, (an ongoing transaction) and the broker left for two weeks vaca without telling you?
Any good pro would notify of vacation and leave the name of a person filling in.
It's not a matter of anxiety, it's just good professional manners.
BTW, Confused....you should expect much of someone you hire and more people should.

Our firm and attorneys/firms I have worked for in the past have never notified clients of vacations and I've been in the legal field for many years working with top attorneys. When you retain an attorney, you are or may be given a brochure or information from that attorney as to instructions and listed in most, it not all, of that information is a paragraph or clause which can run along the lines of "if you have a question and I am out of the office please ask for xxxx or xxxx who can help you in my absence." Any attorney worth his/her salt will ensure anything hanging as to any client prior to a vacation is taken care of or will be handled by an attorney he/she appoints in his/her place. If they don't do that and something falls apart or a deadline missed while they are gone, by all means I would be venting away!

Your reference to a broker is not the same as this circumstance where there is nothing hanging and all is filed but I understand your point. Also, this is the time of year where it should not come as a shock that someone is on vacation. Half our office building is out and there are some great places to park now! :-)

[Cali]

As I stated earlier, I do understand clients being informed if an emergency came up and you have to leave, but I will never get why a professional has to tell their client they are going to be gone for vacation or x amount of days.

And my clients have been attorneys, CEO's VPs of top companies, etc. They paid me big bucks to do the job I was hired to do, and that didn't include informing them of my vacation.

Normally someone is left in charge while the person is away, that is the person you should direct all problems to.

[Confused14]

[b_girl]

I never get to speak to my attorney directly unless an appt is set up ahead of time, but I've never felt like I wasn't well represented or didn't get my money's worth. If he's gone on vacation since I retained his services (which I'm sure he has) I'm not aware of it. You felt annoyed when you found out about your attorney's LOA (leave of absence)...I could care less about mine's. You asked the board's opinion about whether you should be annoyed about it...some of us thought so and some of us didn't. We're not going to change each other's minds obviously. As long as you're being adequately represented by your attorney, it's really much ado about nothing IMO.

[rfassett]

I have just glanced through this whole thread again - and admittedly I did not read each post in detail a second time - but I am failing to see where anyone is being rude. Just because we have differing opinions about something does not make us rude. You asked if you have a "right" to be annoyed, some voted yes and some voted no. There is no rudeness there. My comment about making an uncaring client someone else's concern is very real and very valid. In fact, I fired a client about five years ago because that client thought that it was OK to bring his problems to my house. My office is not in my home. The office is open from 8:00 to 4:30 five days per week. I have four phone lines with voice mail, I have seven e-mail accounts and two dedicated fax lines. I have about eight hundred clients and I will meet with clients outside of the scheduled office hours by appointment - but my home is my sanctuary. My clients respect that - they do not call me there (unless they are calling about non-client/professional issues, i.e., calling as a friend) nor do they visit me there unless invited. The ex-client in reference, over-stepped that boundary. He is someone else's problem now. Unless you have walked in the shoes of a busy professional, you can not really understand the question that you are asking. By the way, the stated office hours is not the limit of my work day. I am in the office most days before 6:30 and out sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 six days a week most weeks and not out until 9:00 or 10:00 some other weeks because it is important to me to make sure my clients are always satisfied. And there is no way that I would ever make a general announcement to all of those persons that I will be on vacation. I believe there are also safety issues. I do not want that many people knowing that my house will be vacant. Because believe it or not, I am pretty certain that no matter how hard I try, there will always be at least one or two disgruntled clients that might just not be above reproach. Just some more of my thoughts.

[Cali]

Confused - here is food for thought: NEVER asked a question you don't want an answer to. No one was rude to you, you just didn't like the opinions that you read. I don't know the type of work you do, but I hope it doesn't involve having a client that thinks you need to inform them of your every move.

rfassett - well said!!

[Confused14]

[rfassett]

Wow!

[Cali]

Confused you are the one that was being rude to those that gave their opinions. And if you think what I posted was rude, then you haven't seen rude before. I am trying to be nice to you but you are acting like a kid that didn't get their way. Your attorney knows what he is doing. Do you actually believe he would go on vacation without knowing if something important was coming up or without having someone to take his place just in case.

All the clients I have worked with, F500 companies/professional athletes, have NEVER sent me an email or called me to let me know they are going on vacation. And the only time I've sent out something was becuase it was an emergency.

[Confused14]