Interview with a court reporter

What do you do for a living

I’m a court reporter.

How would you describe what you do?

We go to attorneys’ offices and we write verbatim what’s being said in depositions or in hearings and go to court sometimes as well. If you ever see the person on TV sitting there with the machine writing, that’s what we do.

We are freelance here, meaning that we usually go to attorneys’ offices rather than court, but we do fill-in in court sometimes, too.

What does your work entail?

Some of the reporters are mask reporters, which means they just repeat into another recorder exactly what’s said, and some of us are writers, where we’re typing shorthand what’s said, and then the shorthand get transcribed into English in a computer.

…you learn a lot…You can hear from an accountant talking numbers all the way to an expert in vehicle motion. So you really get to hear from a lot of interesting people.

Then you have to go back and proof it and edit it and be sure that it’s all correct, and after that’s done, then it all has to be printed and copies made along with any exhibits.

I wouldn’t call it a 9 to 5. You may have a deposition all day from 9 to 5, but if they need it the next day or in a couple of days, you’re going to have to be working evenings to get it finished. Continue Reading …

Posted in Independent Contractors, law, Jobs you may not have heard of   Posted: January 22nd, 2008   Add comment




Interview with a bail bondsmen

What do you do for a living?iStock_000001616955XSmall.jpg

I’m a bondsman, bail bond agent, to be correct.

How would you describe what you do?

I bond people out and I put them back in jail.

What does your work entail?

I deal with criminals on a daily basis. I deal with their families. I deal with their troubles. I deal with everything. I make sure they go to court. If they don’t show up to court, I have to go find them and either make a new court date or put them back in jail.

There’s two people in the world that you really don’t want to piss off when it comes to you sitting in jail. One is the judge and the other is a bondsman.

We have rotating schedules where we have several agents in this office and we rotate on a 24-hour shift. I’m on every three days. I come in to skip trace(aka bounty hunting) in between. In this state, we can’t refer to it as bounty hunting. It’s called skip tracing.

How did you get started?

I used to do this a long time ago and I actually did it part-time because I was going to school full-time with my master’s degree in nursing and decided I wanted a real job and went to nursing and worked for 11 years, hated it and then went back to bonding.

What do you like about being a bondsmen?

The rewards would be if you get some of these people that are messing up in their lives and all of a sudden you see them turn around. You’ve got to build a kind of a rapport with your clients, because if you’re a hard-ass to them, chances are they’re not going to want to go to court. They’re not going to step up for you as well. So when you reach out and help one person and it makes a difference in their life, then it’s kind of rewarding. Continue Reading …

Posted in Independent Contractors, Law Enforcement, commission pay   Posted: December 27th, 2007   1 comment




An interview with a Commercial Painter

What do you do for a living?iStock_000003471771XSmall.jpg

I’m a commerical painter.

What does your work entail?

I started out doing everything, doing all the painting, getting the estimates, getting the estimate turned in, getting all the paint, have it delivered to the job site, then actually do the work, finish and make sure the client is happy, then get your payment, deposit that and record all this process all while hoping that in the middle of that job you are booking other jobs. So that got to be a challenge which is where having the guys helped out because now basically all I do is go out and do the estimating and the invoicing and then just quality check. So, rather than eight hours of my day spent actually doing the labor, I’m going around trying to continue the booking process and the invoicing and all that work.

How did you get started?

I was in school Continue Reading …

Posted in Independent Contractors, Self Employed   Posted: December 6th, 2007   Add comment




Interview with a Tattoo Artist

iStock_000004601101XSmall.jpgWhat do you do for a living? I’m a Tattoo artist and piercer, I run a shop.

How would you describe what you do?

I guess the application of artwork to the human body would be the best way to put it. Making people happier with themselves.

What does your work entail?

Well, it’s considered a medical procedure, the basics. It’s regulated by the Health Department. We’ve got to be wary of cross-contamination, things like that. So, you’ve got to have at least some minor medical background. An artistic eye and talent helps. That’s the difference between a tattoo artist and a tattooist, which are two totally different things.

I’ve done tattoos on teachers, principals, police officers, politicians, as well as punk rockers, you name it. Just because you have a tattoo, doesn’t make you a bad person.

A tattooist can do anything they can see off the wall. A tattoo artist can take anything they can see on the wall and make it better. As far as an average week, there is no average honestly.  Continue Reading …

Posted in Independent Contractors, Artistic Jobs   Posted: November 27th, 2007   Add comment