I’ve heard about double appointments for a stenographer being a common thing for U.S. stenographers but hadn’t heard about it in Canada before and definitely had never encountered it before.

Yesterday, I was setting up in a hotel conference room (first time reporting in a hotel!) when this happened. Mind you, I was 45 minutes early to the job.  Another reporter (who I later recognised from this year’s Association conference) came in and announced himself as the court reporter. Luckily, since I had arrived early and already introduced myself and made small talk with the hearings coordinator, the hearings coordinator promptly said, “No, you’re not” and that “Karen” was already recognized as the court reporter for the job. Thus, the other guy left. He was nice about it and actually told me this wasn’t the first time a double booking had happened to him. It was definitely a new first time occurrence for me. I’m so glad I arrived first! This is yet another reason why it’s important to arrive early to a job!

Are you a reporter and have you experienced double bookings before?