"Maybe commas are discretionary..."

He wears jeans and a T-shirt to work everyday. He refuses to abide by the firm policy of M-Th, business casual...although his last name is third on the door. (But wait, maybe he can refuse to abide by precisely for the very reason that his last name is on the door?!) When he has to appear in court, of course, he wears a nice shirt and a tie, but leaves the tie in the car right after he is done with court.

His wife packs his lunch everyday, which he carries in a plastic bag; He eats alone in his office.

His office is immaculate. The only files in there are the ones he is working on for that day. At the end of the day, his desk is clear.

He is verbose in his letters. Of course, the more you write, the more you bill. But attorneys are supposed to be brief and to the point. That's where we don't get a long. Maybe I should buy him that book about legal writing and brevity. Maybe I should do that on my last day here.

And of course, we have the "comma" issue. He simply uses too many of them. So finally, the other day, he came in and told me he has added more commas to my letters! Then he said, "I know commas are discretionary...but..."

Yes. They are discretionary and I refuse to overuse them.