# So remember my Missing Coworker? She got paid. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062 "2007-01-30T02:36:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![InappropriateHumor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@InappropriateHumor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InappropriateHumor)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/41 "2007-01-30T16:13:38Z")
But what if the crazy is contagious and the quilt is _infected_ with it? If you’re interested, you might purchase a can of my specially formulated aerosol Sane-Spray® for the low low price of just $19.95 (plus shipping and handling). Or, I could take the quilt off your hands for no charge. (I like quilts) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/42 "2007-01-30T16:14:36Z")
Goodbye, Missing Co-worker. I will miss you and your batshit craziness. (but only because I don’t have to work with you) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/43 "2007-01-30T17:35:13Z")
[QUOTE=auntie em] You think that trucker would have gone back to her crazy ass if he’d gotten a taste of Auntie Lovin’? 😛 [/QUOTE] Indeed. I’m afraid I’d neglected to take this obvious aspect into consideration. My apologies. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/44 "2007-01-30T18:12:20Z")
How long until she sues you for the quilt? Did she _sue_ the quilt? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/45 "2007-01-30T18:26:37Z")
How do people like this afford to take legal action that goes nowhere? Is she rich or what? I am trying to find an attorney to sue an insurance company, and they all want two grand just to look at my case, no guarantee they will even pursue it. Litigation ain’t cheap, somebody is paying for it. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/46 "2007-01-30T18:50:51Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] How do people like this afford to take legal action that goes nowhere? Is she rich or what? I am trying to find an attorney to sue an insurance company, and they all want two grand just to look at my case, no guarantee they will even pursue it. Litigation ain’t cheap, somebody is paying for it. [/QUOTE] Apparently you are going to reputable lawyers, not ambulance chasers. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/47 "2007-01-30T19:06:04Z")
[QUOTE=Iggins] Apparently you are going to reputable lawyers, not ambulance chasers. [/QUOTE] OK, let’s follow that line of reasoning. How do ambulance chasers afford to pursue endless litigation that results in nothing, if the client isn’t paying for it? ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/48 "2007-01-30T19:14:52Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] OK, let’s follow that line of reasoning. How do ambulance chasers afford to pursue endless litigation that results in nothing, if the client isn’t paying for it? [/QUOTE] First off, I strongly doubt you are going to a reputable lawyer. A good lawyer will indeed charge you for a consult, but they won’t bleed you dry. The answer to your question is; lawyers who are recently out of law school and haven’t built up a book of clients yet will take cases like this hoping for a big payoff. So will crappy lawyers who can’t make ends meet any other way. For every ten clients like this, one will pay off well enough to take care of the rent for a few months. They’re sort of like lottery tickets. There is another class of lawyers known as ‘bleeders’. These will charge you an hourly rate for listening to you complain about how much you dislike someone. They will even file charges and bring suit against the person who makes you angry, knowing full well that the suit will be dismissed. Since they’re billing by hours and not by success, they will bill you for as many hours as possible. IANAL, but many of my friends are, and this is what they tell me when we hang out. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/49 "2007-01-30T19:42:26Z")
I once filled in for “the crazy coworker” - someone had filed a sexual harrassment claim (that no one in the office believed) and I was the backfill while she sued. She went through four attorneys in six months - each one believing going in that they had a decent case on contigency, each one getting a little farther down the path, discovering she was batshit crazy, and dropping her. When I left she was attorney-less and about to lose her job having not received resolution (the company had been paying her - but had decided her accusations were baseless) - I think that word had gotten around to people who handled these sorts of cases. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/50 "2007-01-31T03:11:56Z")
[QUOTE=Leviosaurus] The answer to your question is; lawyers who are recently out of law school and haven’t built up a book of clients yet will take cases like this hoping for a big payoff. [/QUOTE] I think that may be the kind Nutty Coworker got. At first, she was suing for $750K. Then, a couple of months in, her attorney contacted Ex Boss’s attorney and said something like, “Listen, we’ve got a really good case here, and feel like we can win it, but here’s what I’ll do for you - why don’t you guys offer her $70K and I’ll see if I can get her to take it?” Uh-HUH. So that was a no-go. Finally, Ex-Coworker herself dropped her asking price to something like $40K. Then, after months and months of trial delays (due to criminal trials taking precedence), we’re FINALLY going to trial . . . . . . and Ex-Coworker’s attorney files a motion for continuance. I called the Defense attorney to find out what that meant, and the law clerk said, “We think he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he’s not ready.” She also said that this was only the second case he’d tried. So there you have it. I don’t know why he didn’t take the tactic referred to by **Dangerosa** , because I’m sure he figured out he was in over his head with this nutball. But whatever . . . The one other tidbit I got from my ex-boss the other day is that apparently she’d been keeping a journal for years, _with the intention of using it in a lawsuit against him someday._ My guess is that the day came sooner than she thought, but once she flew off the deep end and disappeared, she figured, “Why not?” Anyway, I’m headed to my former home town to see my mom this weekend. I figure maybe I’ll drop by the office if I get there early enough on Friday afternoon, and take the old boss for a Jack & Coke. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/51 "2007-01-31T07:13:57Z")
I’d still like to know if anything more happened with **Maureen** ’s crazy (she got fired too, right, but was there anything more?) but this another one I had wondered about. Thanks for the epilogue. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/52 "2007-01-31T08:05:34Z")
Yeesh. Moral of story: Whether you’re the boss or the underling, keep a journal. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/53 "2007-01-31T23:34:08Z")
Thanks for the update. Wish the old thread was still around. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062/54 "2007-02-01T06:10:47Z")
[QUOTE=auntie em] Anyway, I’m headed to my former home town to see my mom this weekend. I figure maybe I’ll drop by the office if I get there early enough on Friday afternoon, and **take the old boss for a Jack & Coke**. [/QUOTE] First Crazy Batshit Cow-orker takes him for a few thou, then you gonna come back and take him for Jack & Coke? That’s gotta hurt! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-remember-my-missing-coworker-she-got-paid/390062.md?page=2)