I've figured out why people like working for my father in his office - his office is SO much like college, and I really think people miss this place. As hard as it is for me to admit, I think I will, too, and I kinda don't wanna leave... But on with the comparison.

Dad is totally like a "cool" RA, or even maybe that tenure apathetic professor. He doesn't give a rat's ass when you show up, how long you stay, how long your lunch is, etc... as long as you get the work done, and don't bother him. Of course, if you need help, he's always back in his office with a dish of candy and a really big couch that he got at a thrift store (perfect for napping - I've got first hand experience and can attest to the couch's beat-up squishiness).

There are always HUGE piles of dishes in the sink, and they kind of start to smell after awhile, but as long as there are clean coffee cups, no one touches the dishes. There's an industrial-sized can of coffee grounds (cheap coffee, too - ugh!) next to the industrial sized coffee maker. For an office of about 12 people, they'll go through about 4 pots a day (each pot makes about 12-16 cups of coffee). There's beer in the fridge, and some old food that someone's forgotten to claim next to Jen Merrigan's vegan tofu salad (with humanely chopped Halal leafy greens) - and LOTS of diet soda. No one empties the trash until it spits up and has babies, and you can no longer fit even the smallest candy wrapper on the top.

The kitchen is actually just an area with a few appliances and a sink blocked off by big filing cabinets - makeshift walls! I'm sure we've all had these in our home or dorm room.

Then there's the big "common room." Law students study here, next to the copy machine - the big table is always covered in projects and legal files, and EVERYONE gathers here to talk at some point throughout the day. Sit at the big table to do your work, and you're guaranteed not to miss any of the good gossip - waaaaay too much like the lounge in the dorms.

The offices are tiny spaces, like dorm rooms. Don't even bother closing your door because no one really knocks, and everyone will want to poke their head in - just like the dorms. If you have a computer, everyone else will want to use it, so don't even bother putting anything private on there. And your roomie - er office mates - will inevitably down-load a virus into your system. You can hear everything through the thin walls, and the RA at the end of the hall (Dad) seems to think that no one can hear him on the phone unless he yells into it, broadcasting the conversation down the hall and into the commons area. Then again, if he closed his door, people would be tempted to randomly open it all the time, so there's no point.

Everyone in the office wears jeans and t-shirts - no suits for these lawyers. This is also the only other place besides a college discussion group where an intelligent, thought-provoking point can be made during a meeting that begins with "Fuck that!" or "You are so full of shit," and a presentation can be given by a disheveled looking lawyer in bib overalls. Really - where else can you ask the secretary, "Where the hell is Sean?" and have her respond, "How the hell should I know? I think he went to the 7-11 next door for a slurpee before his conference call. By the way, we have a guest coming - wear khaki's tomorrow."

The furniture doesn't match (half of it is second-hand anyway), the carpet and the wallpaper don't really match - don't even ask about the suit of armor or the giant wall-sized Hispanic folk mural in the lobby (which have essentially replaced the John Belushi drinking poster and the stolen street sign).

It's obvious that only un-fun people from "real" law firms find the place revolting - the law office is comfortable, normal, and as relaxed as you can make a law office - anyone who insists on coming to work in a suit was obviously a sorority snob (as opposed to the cool down-to-earth sorority girls, and I only know about 3 or 4 of those) who had a clean kitchen, prissy clean roommates and tons of money for designer clothes in college, and therefore never really went to college. You know, the kind of girl that really dressed up for that presentation in class, and never went to those cool poli sci or philosophy classes where you could make points with cuss words - the kind of girl who wouldn't be caught dead at the free Friday night campus concert (she had money to go to the cool clubs). Frat guys, however, will be right at home, minus the complete filth - the office is pretty clean, if you don't count the dishes piled up in the sink.

It's as if this law office never grew out of college - never grew out of fun, liberal, good times.