Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Is this the thread where Paul says he doesn't have any living friends except Pinner? I'll be your Internet Friend, Paul.
I think we can go ahead and say that Paul is one of the twenty greatest posters in the history of the BBS, and we can also **get that statement notarized.**
I appreciate the sentiment. Note that by law, a notarized statement must be made in person before the notary; this is a requirement in all 50 states. There is a proposal in Virginia to allow electronic notarizations where the person "appears" by videoconference. The National Notary Association is urging notaries to write and tell the Governor this is a bad idea, because of both the extra recordkeeping requirements (you'd have to keep copies of the video) and because it would "water down" the notary's capacity to be able to verify the person's veracity (much harder to lie over a video than when someone sees you in person).
I did "mobile notary" for a couple of years during the height of the subprime morgage bubble, I was doing about 2-3 a week, sometimes more, at $50 a pop. At least it kept me in eating money. If I could have gotten a couple a day, it would have been very nice money. Mobile Notary handles the paperwork for mortgage refinancing where you go out to the customer's home or office to witness the signing of the loan documents (a "closing"), and sign off on the ones that require notarization, plus send the documents back to the lender and leave a copy with the borrower.
There were two really good jobs I had. One company called me, in Arlington, to go down to Norfolk and witness a closing. Well, my rule is $1 a mile if it's outside the area. Norfolk is 185 miles, so I said that would be the price. They were not sure at $185 plus whatever other fees; I said it's a flat rate. So they agreed. I spend 6 hours driving round trip, about an hour and a half meeting a nice lesbian couple who were refinancing their house - they didn't say they were but people do give off clues - and witnessing and processing the paperwork. I ship it off and about a month later I get a check for $185.
I love to drive, so it was nice. I got to drive all the way to Norfolk and someone else paid for it. (Gas, I think, cost me about $20 as my car got me about 25mpg and was about $2.10 a gallon then.)
The other one happened when the Nader Campaign called me. Since I didn't get my first commission until 2002 this would have to have been during 2004 for that election. To put someone on the ballot in Virginia requires you get a certain number of signatures on petitions. Each one has to be notarized that the petitioner really took the signatures. Which would have required probably a couple hundred forms. The statutory price for a document is $5 which would have been very expensive. So I agreed on a flat rate of $150 for all the petitions.
They basically used my place as a "staging area" where petition soliciters who were collecting them, probably at supermarkets and such, were bringing them in all night long. Now, petition submitters have to be residents of Virginia and eligible to vote. They all listed their address as some hotel. Well, I didn't ask and they didn't say, but I suspect that wasn't truthful, or at least it wouldn't be after the petitioning ended and they moved on to the next state.
Well, anyway, what I did was, instead of swearing them in for each document I swore each petitioner "in bulk". I'd have them raise their right hand and have them repeat the following oath:
I do solemnly swear or affirm that the statements I have made on these papers are, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, correct and complete.
We had a regular factory going on. The only thing I alone am required to do is sign; anyone can apply my seal (seals are not required on notarized documents in Virginia but most notaries have one anyway). I have to see them sign the document in front of me which is why they have to show up with each of the forms. They'd stamp the seal which means we can get the documents processed faster. This was the last day petitions could be done in order that they be turned in with sufficient time to be valid.
I'll occasionally take shortcuts for the convenience of a customer but I knew this one was important to them, and the "powers that be" would fight over an usurper to the two major parties, so
everything was done strictly by the book so it would survive any challenge. Specifically swearing each and every petitioner, making sure I did my full signature, instructing them where to impress the seal so it didn't obliterate anything important.
Sometimes we had as many as 5-6 people in and out as they dropped off petitions.
I think we did something like 3-400 petitions. So at the end of the night she gives me a check from the Nader Campaign for the $150.
That was fun. Was even more fun when about a month later the Nader Campaign I think forgets they paid me, because I get another check for $150. I always follow Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #1: Once you get the customer's money, you never give it back.
So that was a nice job that I ended up making $300.
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Is this the thread where Paul says he doesn't have any living friends except Pinner? I'll be your Internet Friend, Paul.
I think we can go ahead and say that Paul is one of the twenty greatest posters in the history of the BBS, and we can also **get that statement notarized.** [/quote]
I appreciate the sentiment. Note that by law, a notarized statement must be made in person before the notary; this is a requirement in all 50 states. There is a proposal in Virginia to allow electronic notarizations where the person "appears" by videoconference. The National Notary Association is urging notaries to write and tell the Governor this is a bad idea, because of both the extra recordkeeping requirements (you'd have to keep copies of the video) and because it would "water down" the notary's capacity to be able to verify the person's veracity (much harder to lie over a video than when someone sees you in person).
I did "mobile notary" for a couple of years during the height of the subprime morgage bubble, I was doing about 2-3 a week, sometimes more, at $50 a pop. At least it kept me in eating money. If I could have gotten a couple a day, it would have been very nice money. Mobile Notary handles the paperwork for mortgage refinancing where you go out to the customer's home or office to witness the signing of the loan documents (a "closing"), and sign off on the ones that require notarization, plus send the documents back to the lender and leave a copy with the borrower.
There were two really good jobs I had. One company called me, in Arlington, to go down to Norfolk and witness a closing. Well, my rule is $1 a mile if it's outside the area. Norfolk is 185 miles, so I said that would be the price. They were not sure at $185 plus whatever other fees; I said it's a flat rate. So they agreed. I spend 6 hours driving round trip, about an hour and a half meeting a nice lesbian couple who were refinancing their house - they didn't say they were but people do give off clues - and witnessing and processing the paperwork. I ship it off and about a month later I get a check for $185.
I love to drive, so it was nice. I got to drive all the way to Norfolk and someone else paid for it. (Gas, I think, cost me about $20 as my car got me about 25mpg and was about $2.10 a gallon then.)
The other one happened when the Nader Campaign called me. Since I didn't get my first commission until 2002 this would have to have been during 2004 for that election. To put someone on the ballot in Virginia requires you get a certain number of signatures on petitions. Each one has to be notarized that the petitioner really took the signatures. Which would have required probably a couple hundred forms. The statutory price for a document is $5 which would have been very expensive. So I agreed on a flat rate of $150 for all the petitions.
They basically used my place as a "staging area" where petition soliciters who were collecting them, probably at supermarkets and such, were bringing them in all night long. Now, petition submitters have to be residents of Virginia and eligible to vote. They all listed their address as some hotel. Well, I didn't ask and they didn't say, but I suspect that wasn't truthful, or at least it wouldn't be after the petitioning ended and they moved on to the next state.
Well, anyway, what I did was, instead of swearing them in for each document I swore each petitioner "in bulk". I'd have them raise their right hand and have them repeat the following oath:
[quote]I do solemnly swear or affirm that the statements I have made on these papers are, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true, correct and complete. [/quote]
We had a regular factory going on. The only thing I alone am required to do is sign; anyone can apply my seal (seals are not required on notarized documents in Virginia but most notaries have one anyway). I have to see them sign the document in front of me which is why they have to show up with each of the forms. They'd stamp the seal which means we can get the documents processed faster. This was the last day petitions could be done in order that they be turned in with sufficient time to be valid.
I'll occasionally take shortcuts for the convenience of a customer but I knew this one was important to them, and the "powers that be" would fight over an usurper to the two major parties, so [i]everything[/i] was done strictly by the book so it would survive any challenge. Specifically swearing each and every petitioner, making sure I did my full signature, instructing them where to impress the seal so it didn't obliterate anything important.
Sometimes we had as many as 5-6 people in and out as they dropped off petitions.
I think we did something like 3-400 petitions. So at the end of the night she gives me a check from the Nader Campaign for the $150.
That was fun. Was even more fun when about a month later the Nader Campaign I think forgets they paid me, because I get another check for $150. I always follow Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #1: Once you get the customer's money, you never give it back.
So that was a nice job that I ended up making $300.