I started to respond under my forum to the question as to whether anyone should go to court reporting school, but realizing it's been some weeks since blogspiration had hit me, figured I'd switch windows and wax sarcastic over here instead.

I love my job, and if you're cut out for this field, I highly recommend signing up. My best piece of advice to anyone thinking about reporting school, who is currently in a program or who is a working reporter but hates their job, is to always be working towards your realtime certification. I've worked on both sides of the fence, driving two hours for a 30-page O&1 car wreck contrasted with jetting off to Paris for a week of multi-hookup work, and trust me, while there was plenty of bull$hit with which to fertilize my past, the grass is definitely greener in my current area code.

It was a simple question of economics when I took my first realtime job in 1995. I saw more requests coming on the scheduling book for hookup jobs, and those notices always seemed to have those lengthy service lists that to this day make me feel all warm and fluffy inside. While starving to death two years out of school, I made the decision to pony up my last 180 bucks to purchase a first-gen SocketIO serial card. That single piece of hardware paired with my ardent desire to not write workers' comp hearings for the rest of my career is all it took for me to embark down the road towards realtime.

The next realtime job to call in was a two-week O&5 daily copy with three hookups. No one else was available, so it fell to the new kid with two serial ports. After puking up my breakfast on the first break after counsel called out my mistaking "physical" for "fiscal" on the record, I calmed down by repeating my patented realtime mantra, "What are they gonna do, take away my birthday?" and proceeded to bill out enough over the next fortnight to dispatch an appreciable percentage of my then gutwrenching credit card debt.

After that job, I never looked back. My computer has gone on every job since, and I treat every depo as though everyone is watching every word. And though that first Cornflake-hurling step remains a top-ten stressful moment to this day, by and large the remainder of my realtime life has been much less ulcer-inducing, since most depositions significant enough to require realtime are usually conducted by attorneys that understand and respect the process of recordmaking. I've found realtime tends to weed out the guys on the back of the phone book looking for a street fight. And as far as income, well, I'm writing cleaner, scoping less and billing extra for the realtime service. There's only two ways to get a raise in court reporting, working harder or working smarter. I've chosen the latter and couldn't be happier.

One last thought, I classify non-realtime reporters into three categories: Those who have absolutely no interest in it, those that are qualified but terrified to write naked, and those that are woefully inept but choose to do realtime simply to collect the fees, regardless of the level of service they provide. To the first group, ignorance is bliss, keep putting in those 20-hour days. To the last, every time I hear an attorney compliment my feed by comparing it to "the last reporter" where "it was all gibberish, you couldn't read a thing," I have the overwhelming urge to get the reporter's name so I can plead with them to go home and get their CRR before they come pee with the big dogs. And for those of you in the middle, suck it up and buy the proverbial SocketIO card, we need you. Besides, what are they gonna do, take away your birthday?

"Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it." - Jane Wagner