Thread by @GSarafan

I just had a weird a surreal experience that many of you won't understand so I will try snd give you some context.

I am in court every day. Today I am in the civil court in Manhattan. Court starts at 9:30 am. Daily dockets can be anywhere from a dozen cases to over 100.

That means most mornings, depending on the size of the court room and the length of the docket, there could be 50 to 100 people waiting in and around each court room, in hallways with several courtrooms on each floor. The courtrooms each open at 930 am.

At 930 each morning the court officer or clerk for each room will unlock the door, open it to the hallway, announce that the courtroom is now open and for everyone waiting in the hallway to get the number next to their name on the docket posted on the wall in the hall, and to

come inside, line up in front of the court officer, check in to their case and be seated.

This morning I am in the civil court in Manhattan. Once I arrived I walked into one of the larger courtrooms with a morning docket of over 50 cases, meaning there should be at least 50

litigants and attorneys in the courtroom either waiting to be called, speaking with the clerk, court attorney, judge or right outside the courtroom in the hallway negotiating a settlement to their case.

But there was no one. Literally no one. No one in the gallery or hall.

This morning I walked into the courtroom and the judge was seated at the bench, the court attorney at his desk, the clerk at her's, and the court officer his waiting to check people in but unlike every other day I've been in a courtroom at 930 there was no line to check in.

I walked slowly into the room waiting for one of the court staff to tell me the reason it was empty is because all of the cases were being sent to another courtroom. But that didnt make sense, since the judge was on the bench and there was no apparent reason for that.

All of the court staff, including the judge, all at the same time stopped what they were doing and looked up and watched me slowly enter the room and walk towards the officer. I wouldnt normally call put in a courtroom that was in session it since the room was empty I did.

I asked "why is the room empty" and the judge replied "we are only taking cases one at a time." I was confused, since that is a weird policy to have but also it didnt make sense since there was also no one in the hallway waiting to be let in. The judge saw my look of confusion

and said "counselor, it's a joke." But that was only more confusing since the room was empty with still no apparent explanation. I looked at each staff member in turn with an even more bewildered look, I still hadent even made it halfway from the door to the officer.

My apprehension was apparent and the clerk shouted from the back of the room, we're not totally sure what is going on either. Still confused and in shock I checked in and left to take care of a case in another court room, where i am now.

I cant describe how disconcerting that whole experience was. When you walk into a room you expect to be bustling with people and activity and its empty its offputting to say the least. Especially in NYC, where I had just been squeezed on to a train and, waited in line to take

the escalator from the train, only to walk to the court on a sidewalk that was no less crowded. I believe I could do this job for the next 40 years (God help me) and still never see the likes of what I experienced this morning ever again.