All Dressed Up And Snow Where To Go

THE LEGAL PROFESSION is a service industry.  I serve clients.  And the needs of those clients are not lessened by inclement weather.  It was, then, with great pride in my vocation that I suited up and slogged my way through record setting slush and snow to the bus stop this morning to go to work. 

Forty-five minutes, a full cup of coffee, and an impending case of frostbite later, the 255 Bus rumbled forth equipped with snow chains and filled with several damp yet committed commuters.

We traveled south through Juanita on 98th Avenue and around the bend by Juanita Bay Park.  As we reached the upward grade of Market Street, we were flagged down by a passenger standing behind another 255 Bus with its lights flashing.  The man hopped on, thanked the bus driver, and took his seat.  But it quickly became apparent that our bus was about to meet a similar fate: it was now, like the other bus, stuck.  You could tell that the collective sigh of the commuters weighed heavy on the suddenly sheepish man we’d stopped to save. 

A cognitive condition explains this situation: it’s called “the domino effect” and it results from a deep-seated emotional need to help others.  One person sees another in danger and, in attempting to help, befalls the same tragedy as the original victim.  A firefighter storms a building to save a fellow comrade; another follows, then another… The stressful situation causes people to lose site of the consequences of their actions. 

In this case, our bus driver was compelled by a need to help the man flailing his arms alongside the road. Had he simply disregarded the man’s situation our bus would have continued its way up Market Street and ultimately reached its destination.  But he wasn’t and it didn’t. 

Our driver made a valiant effort to dislodge the bus.  He spun the tires wildly, cranked the wheel left to right, and even honked the horn…twice.  When our bus literally started sliding backwards Kirkland’s Finest arrived to shut down the debacle and direct what little traffic there was around our blockade.  It was at that point that I called it: “That’s it, let me off,” said the attorney.  I deboarded the bus and begged my ill-equipped leather dress shoes to carry me home safely.

Eventually I did make it home however cold, wet and disgruntled I was.  But what can I say: I go the extra mile for my clients.  Or, in this case, a couple of blocks. 

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Trent Latta is an attorney and current member of Kirkland’s Cultural Council.  He may be reached at TLatta@mcdougaldlaw.com.