Lawyer Reviews

I hear there is a new Sherlock Holmes movie coming out, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law.

I’ve always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories and the various actors that have played him. I saw Jeremy Brett’s characterization of the sleuth on stage in London, and it was nothing less than a transcendental experience.

In one of Conan Doyles’ Holmes stories, “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” there is an essential clue to solving a murder, that the preternaturally prescient detective detects.

On the evening in question, the dog, known for its reliable barking at intruders, didn’t make a peep, leading Holmes to infer that the crime was committed by someone from the estate.

Thus, the ABSENCE of an occurrence was a key to understanding the presence of something else.

When I was returning a video a few weeks ago, a briny clerk refused to process the order. Without a nametag, I had to ask for hers.

“It’s Brittany!” she snapped. “And I don’t care if you report me!” she added with an unusually challenging, gauntlet tossing tone.

As a customer service consultant I admit I’m hypersensitive to good and bad help, but her quite loud declaration was disturbing.

It is especially significant, I think, because this is exactly the sort of cocky, devil-may-care, self-important statement I’d NEVER HEAR even a few years ago.

Of course, I did report her to management.

About a week later, when trying to return a faulty fabric that was falling apart, a brusque clerk, who upon investigation turned out to be a general manager-talk about occupational title inflation-ordered me “Out of my store!”

In both scenarios the helpers were employed by very large retail chains, which typically, are sensitive to customer relations.

But this seems to have changed.

These dogs don’t bark, either.