formerly a fearless temp

You're one of the nice ones! There are nice people who call and ask those questions, of course. But a lot of people seem to call and ask these questions to establish some kind of rapport in the hopes that I'll do something for them that I can't, like get an attorney who's not in the office to speak to him or her on the phone (I've had this happen before, when people call and think an attorney is ducking them and don't believe me when I tell them that no, really, he's not here! I couldn't put him on the phone if I wanted to!). It's probably from working in a law office, when people calling are usually stressed out and annoyed that the person who they want to talk to isn't available Right That Minute.