Paying the Poop Forward
by
Sea Change‘s recent post reminded me of a situation that happened to me in law school. If you’ve never attended law school, let me explain one critical detail: poop. Poop are things that have been prepared by students that are passed down to the next class to help the new students. Mainly, it’s outlines and similar stream-lined materials. It’s coveted and, often, secretly guarded. I ended up making my own outlines, but it always helped to have the good poop that was floating around.
As a green freshman, I didn’t know any upper classmen, and I had no poop. I remember there was one guy in my section that had all the poop imaginable, and he didn’t share it. (He also failed his first semester–nenur-nenur-nenur).
One day, I was in the smoking room (back when you could smoke indoors, which I didn’t, but I met a certain friend there and so would go visit him and drink coffee out of those cups that had poker hands on them). An upper classman was using the pay phone (back when such creatures existed–I won’t mention how much that pay phone cost to make a call) (holy crap! how old am I???) and when he hung up he saw me and must have seen my deer-in-the-headlights look because he asked if I was a freshman and inquired as to what section I was in. I told him and he said, “Oh, that’s a good section. I wasn’t in that section but my girlfriend was. Do you have all the poop you need?” Never in my life did one little question–Do I have all the poop I need–ever mean so much. I had none. Zilch. Nada. Not one page.
He gave me his girlfriend’s number and by the end of the week I had all the poop I could wish for! Ah, glorious poop! And I gave it to anyone in my section who asked for it.
And the following year, I returned to the smoking room and looked for a kindred lost soul and gave the gift that had been given to me. Yes, the gift of poop. And I made him promise to do the same the following year and to have his beneficiary promise to do the same.
I wonder if, over ten years later, that chain is still unbroken. I like to think it is.
This is so like the story of the rich man who finds himself penniless and has to borrow money from a stranger. How wise you were/are. I also hope the chain hasn’t been broken.
So lawyers are kind to other lawyers, but eat civilians for lunch. I see the chain has continued.
Heehee….you said poop.
Well, that sure is one way to pay it forward! Never heard that one before!
Hmm… In my law library, people stole your books if you left them unguarded. I like yours better.
Hmmm. That’s interesting how professional schools differ. In our vet school class, if anyone had any interesting “poop” it was shared with all….kind of like the 89 musketeers…all for one and one for all…..Except for Anita D*….and so we all laughed when the cow pooped on her head.
Leendaluu, oddly, when I got to graduate tax law school (yes, I was in school for over 22 years), it was share and share alike. No hoarding at all. It was like the 3 years of law school were fast forwarded. It was really freshman yr of law school that was so bad with the hoarding. By year 2, we all realized that in the end, we’d all have everything and it was really about LEARNING it and applying it. Ah well. It was what it was. I LOVED my law school experience (and that puts me in a minority!).
Alas! The chain HAS BEEN broken! I did not hear about POOP until my second year of law school. By that time, I was already in the top seven percent of my class and left those lonely-blankety blanks in my dust. They tried to cause me to fall but HA! Either way, the chain has been broken. Nowadays people secret it and refuse to share it. Sorry.