The apparent downfalls of court reporting

I sat through my first day of court on my own today, and half of that time was spent (unbeknownst to me) with my shirt on backwards. Good start Melissa.

Luckily it was the kind of shirt you couldn’t tell was on backwards. The only sign was the tag, which wasn’t actually visible. The two little lines where it was sewn into the shirt were what caught me eye as I went for a bathroom break. I sheepishly turned my shirt around and went back into the courtroom, looking as nonchalant as I could.

I also worry that I might have appeared to hit on the police prosecutor during a lunch break. I’d gone up and introduced myself, asked him for a summary of facts on a particular case, and then said “nice to meet you” before returning to the press bench. Doesn’t sound too bad, right?

Unfortunately, my voice and face conspired against me as I uttered my parting line, and the “nice to meet you” came out sounding – and looking – somewhat suggestive. Hopefully I played it off with the awkward drumming of my hands on the table as I returned to my seat. ‘Just be cool,’ I told myself.

Apart from that the day went relatively smoothly. It was second time lucky, though. I showed up yesterday ready for action only to be told by the security guards that the judge’s list wasn’t until the next day. I went back to the office with my tail between my legs, feeling like a muppet.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Melissa the inexperienced court reporter.

Longest second day ever

Now, I want to be perfectly clear that I’m not saying a long day is a bad day. In fact, I had a pretty cool day.

Left earlier than yesterday. Still did not beat the Auckland traffic. I probably caught it at a slightly better time though, because even though I only left ten minutes earlier, I got to TV3 three quarters of an hour earlier than yesterday. Wows. At least I look eager.

I got sent off to court with a journo and a camera lady to see the first appearance of the gunman from the bank last night. As I understand it, it wasn’t actually a hostage situation, and he didn’t actually demand any money, he just threatened to harm himself. Don’t quote me on that though.

We waited around for most of the day while they brought out people for other minor charges. Half the day was gone before he was brought out. In fact, we got there at nine, and he was brought out around three or four. We had about an hour and a half break around lunchtime though. The man’s been given interim name suppression until he appears in court on July 3rd.

I introduced myself to John Campbell at lunchtime. I was right, it was wishful thinking that he was looking at me with recognition yesterday. He didn’t remember me, but he was very friendly, and very apologetic that he didn’t remember. He’s the kind of man who looks directly into your eyes when he’s talking to you. That was interesting. He told me that if they went out on an interesting story and I wasn’t busy, they’d take me with them.

Karen told me that tomorrow I can sit in the studio when the news goes to air, so I’m pretty excited about that.

I keep getting lost in the office, because I go to the lift and forget which floor is the exit. Then I get back in the lift and forget which floor three news is on. What a mess I am.