Autumn Chastain is difficult to reach. She has an office phone, but the voicemail is always full to its quota; her cell phone is the same story. She rarely checks her email, and when she does, the issues have often become moot. This is one of the downsides of having a private office. Unfortunately, there simply is not time to for Autumn to deal with minor things—she has a full docket, literally and metaphorically. She does have some office workers at the juvenile court, but while they are always helpful, they are not her private employees.
Whenever she has a free moment, Autumn checks her voicemail. One day, we sat for thirty minutes in a waiting area while she checked her voicemail, taking notes for all forty messages. She shared some funny asides about the calls, but was mostly business-oriented. She returned several calls—they all went to voicemail—as well as several emails, which she did on her iPad.
Communicating with Autumn for scheduling hours essentially became a text message conversion. She would often respond late, after having put her kids to bed. It was also a nice insight into her life, which really extends far beyond her job in the courtroom. However, when she’s on the job, she is efficient and ready-to-work.
I always tried to be ready for whatever schedule she was able to put together for the week—the hours were somewhat sporadic, but she was always very accommodating. It was intimidating at first to interact with her via text message, but eventually, it became commonplace. I was also initially hesitant to do so, because it seemed far too casual. However, it was soon revealed that text message was the only way in which I could consistently reach Autumn. Her openness and relaxed attitude eventually encouraged me to be comfortable sending her text messages.
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