A shut mouth is a terrible thing to waste

Today a high school student thinking about going into law came in to shadow the guy I work with for a day. We chatted some over lunch. I refrained from offering to just choke her with her sandwich until she lost half her brain cells and heart, thereby acheving the same result, just cheaper and without the degree. I figure, if she wants to ruin a perfectly good life, that's her perogative and anyway, it may be too late. What the hell is a teenager doing giving serious thought to their career? She's supposed to be smoking pot, eating pizza, riding around aimlessly, drinking shitty beer somebody's brother bought and getting groped in backseats. Kids these days. Geez.

But then, most people waste their lives. Today a guy with a rap sheet a page long turned down a plea offer - which did suck - and we'll be going to trial on enough felonies to get him 26 years. The D.A. was quite self righteous about him being seen by some drunks chasing a crackhead prostitute with no pants on, possibly while weilding a knife. I would have explained he was just trying to get the wallet back she had just stolen if I'd gotten a word in edgewise. He said he had no patience for plea offers from defendants that insulted his intelligence and pointed to the degrees behind him, saying he wouldn't have them if he were stupid. I found this interesting for several reasons. First, I have more degrees than him and so does my girlfriend. Second, if he were smart, he'd have listened a bit and tried to get me to tip my hand; I in fact know a few things about the case I'm pretty sure he doesn't. Like I dug up an unserved warrant on his prostitute from where she never showed up to court for being busted with a crack pipe and it's going back out now. I didn't mind, though. This shit is going to be hard enough, so I'm perfectly happy with being underestimated.

My theory is that he was a career minded teenager; that type seems to understimate the kid who rode around drunk with their bare feet sticking out of a Camaro's passenger window. Sometimes for good reason; but sometimes, not so much - getting questioned by the cops teaches you to keep your fool mouth shut, and sometimes, that's the best way to seize an opportunity, which is a terrible thing to waste.