jackie pointed out that i missed one of the better details from our adventures. as i mentioned earlier everything in our application need to be an original or a certified copy. a certified copy involves creating a document that says “on such and such day i made a copy of the following original document in the presence of so and so, blah blah blah.” the copy of the original is made on the back of the document and the notary then makes it official with his or her seal. finding a notary at a copy shop on the weekend was a major hassle but we did find one (UPS Store #5001) so we gathered up all our docs and headed out. when we arrived we were greeted by a teenager with a ‘tude that had her chewing gum more out of her mouth than in.
nice.
we explain what we want and get the smack down – “we can’t do that.”
sigh. deep breath. i had done a test run at another UPS Store (#1705) the previous week so i knew this was bogus. now the dad comes out swaggering with a sense of authority – “whutdaya need.” best part is he is also working the gum. the two of them were straight of a saturday night live sketch. so we explain again what we want and once again get the smack down. me mentioning that the other store would do it was a dead end. there is now this awkward pause before he offers what he can do – and no surprise it is more than close enough to what we need. the whole exercise was just establishing who’s the boss.
we start the copying and signing process. i sign the docs right at the counter and pass them to him – “these are already signed – i can’t certify these”. i say “right – i just signed them here on the counter”. gum chewer #2 – “but i didn’t see you sign them so i won’t certify them”.
another very long awkward pause.
gum chewer then offers “but if you sign them again in front of me that should be fine.” bloody hell. another round of “who’s the boss”
ultimately we left with what we needed but what i learned was as much as you try, you’ve always got a boss. it may be your manager at work, some bureaucrat who needs to process your paperwork – or the weekend manager of the a ups store – but you’ve always got the person who can make things easy or hard and that you just have to grin and watch them work the gum.
******
searching for a gum chewing image i first found this one. i wondered what it was about. fortunately the google translation cleared everything up.
Nicolas, the son of the Senior police officer Principal Fortier has been just removed in Paris, in full Latin Quarter.
To find quickly and at all costs, it is the task which Mik set at the return of Blois and the extraordinary adventure of the Assassination of the Duke of Own way.
In this perilous company, Mik has wire with retordre well. Without the support of Fortier itself, of Mitou, the kitchen boy of the Three Cheetahs, of his/her Francoise cousin, the printer of elite, mysterious Pataugas and of all the buddies of small disappeared, it would live quite difficult hours..