I am amazed at the number of times I show up to a dirty signing table with food and sticky items on the table and it doesn’t even occur to the signers to wipe it down. They just say sorry and want me to put docs on it. I usually carry a wipe with me but this last time I forgot to add more to my bag and the table was pretty nasty. Super weird…
On another note, I now carry pepper spray with me too. I haven’t used it, but I feel like most people have pets, not to mention sometimes you show up in the dark to a sketchy place, lol.
If the table (or chair I need to sit in) is dirty, I just politely ask them if we could wipe it off. I tell them it is to make sure there aren’t any problems with their documents when I am scanning back. If I don’t think it will get clean enough, I whip out my clip boards. I try to keep it light no matter how bad the table is. (I have seen some things.)
I am always amazed when I arrive and the signer’s place is a mess. They’ve had ample advance notice about the signing and yet, many people do little to nothing to prepare for the notary’s arrival.
“Gee, honey, where’s my license” (are you kidding me!!! You don’t know where your license is???)
“Oh, let me clean that up” (sticky, filthy mess)
And my favorite. . . Entering the premises and seeing that it is a total dirty mess and being asked to remove my shoes. It’s an insult to then walk their nasty floors.
Like my ol’ sweet daddy used to say, “That’s the job, son.”
I like arriving with the hardcover journal. Prefect for scraping the rice and bits of solid food off the kitchen table. And it doubles as the only hard flat surface available and it’s a great shield for deflecting pets.
Have pepper spray–never used it. Got it due to the following, but am glad I didn’t have it at the time: 25 feet from my car when a pack of 5 dobermans tear around the corner of the house headed striaght at me. I freeze–hoping the guy was right when he told me during confirmation call, “We raise friendly dogs”. He was, but if I’d had pepper spray, I might not have given the dogs a chance to prove their friendliness.
Very much understand the dog situation. One signing in the country 12 bull dogs all cute but never know how they act around strangers. Also carried bear spray when signing in Kitsap County WA. At times bears around my vehicle after signings. Unfortunately, bear spray in vehicle.
Had some in hoarder homes and 1 in a crack house before (detroit). I’m at the point where nothing shocks me anymore, just keep it professional and be in and out
And therein lies the problem. My pepper spray is in a stylish red leather snap top keychain-carrier–which is still way too big–so it’s clippedto under a flap on my briefcase. If I ever needed it, by the time I got it out, whatever I needed it for would all be over anyway.
I’m definitely still too bougie for it all. I mean, I’ve done what I had to do, but I don’t know….one house smelled SO BAD it jaded me and now I think I’m more inclined to either ask if we can do it outside or something. I try not to offend, but the way my OCD and anxiety is set up…my limits are being pushed.
Probably not a bad idea. Since we’re sharing, I had a huge Doberman-type dog breathing down the back of my neck after jumping up on the couch behind me at a bachelor’s pad with no table, just small foldable tv tray. The dog then snapped at me when I was leaving. I moved my hand just in time to not have to get stitches in my hand. The owner was not impressed. Another time, I walked into a home where I thought I would need a face mask. The cigarette smoke was so thick, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face and thought I would surely gag and pass out. If that wasn’t bad enough, the lady of the house then began to tell me that the tiny bit of perfume I was wearing was too strong for her liking. I turned red for sure and somehow kept my composure. But it was no problem for me to suffocate on 2nd hand cigarette smoke.
The house I signed at today was so sub-prime (I got a peek when the owner opened the door) I understood why he wanted to sign on their damp, mossy, outdoor picnic table. (Note to self, bring a sit-upon for such occasions.) I wanted to sign standing but got shaky and had to sit. That was nice and moist!
I bring wet wipes with me to the signings and use them to wipe the table if I must. I have also set everying on a chair and gone to the sink to wet a wad of their paper towels and wiped down the table. I say ‘anything sticky will jam my scanner, we’ll just have to fix this.’ Since I’m older and not tiny, I don’t ever (knock on wood) get pushback.
I try to seal at the table but if the conditions will cause imperfect seals I have been forced to jump up and find a firm surface. The gentleman with the moist table, brought me a granite tile. Worked beautifully! A tv tray will not suffice. I will at least, make sure I have a clear seal and complete the documents later in a clean environment. Not sealing on a document that has the signer’s signatures on it is less than ideal. If you blow the seal, you will have to line through and seal again. The other day I tried three times on one Occupancy Affidavit with the signer’s signature on the same page. It was so hot, my seal was unglued?
In future I will line through the bad seal and put ‘please see attached.’ Then I can add a loose Jurat in a stable and clean environment.
My brother had a law office assignment where the smell from the house smelled like a corpse was left on the livingroom floor. He refused to enter.
I had a signer who met me at the nearby Mc Donald’s. He was large, very large and he must have not smelled heavenly because even though I have long lost my sense of smell, my eyes were watering. He was pleasant enough, but it was a time I thought my handicap wasn’t such a bad thing.
I am not afraid of dogs and don’t freak out if they bound up or jump on me but if the owner does not take care to keep me safe I will sue if bitten. Pure and simple.
I’ve had 2 dogs literally jump on my car door and scratch it up terribly. I wouldn’t get out of my car until they put them away. The signing went better though.
