As a professional public notary, there are a few things you should never do while on a signing job. Most of these things are purely common sense. If you lack commons sense, perhaps being a public notary is not the job for you. Dr. John Patrick Keefe II, a public notary in Oklahoma City, would like to share this list of no-no’s, and encourages all public notaries or those aspiring to be one, to read them.
People are Strange
Ed and Betty accepted a loan signing from a signing company. The couple arrived at the agreed upon signing location on time. After 30 minutes had gone by, Ed and Betty began to wonder if the public notary had forgotten about them. That’s when Ed’s cell phone rang. Can you guess who it was?
On the other end of the line, the public notary sounded frazzled and full of excuses. She claimed that her car broke down and then proceeds to ask Ed for a ride! Ed and Betty graciously agree to give her a lift.
It only gets weirder from here, folks.
As they are driving, the notary public asks if they can stop off at Staples to print out their documents. Once again, Ed and Betty oblige. Once they stop at Staples and the notary public prints the documents, she asks Ed and Betty if they could pay for them because she is flat broke. What?! This naturally infuriated Ed, and he placed a call to the loan officer and told him what was going on. The loan officer advised Ed and Betty to leave the notary public at Staples, and that’s what they did.
The following day, the notary public called the loan officer and told him that her husband had to work late, and that’s why she missed the signing appointment. Can we say, “caught.” As if the loan officer wouldn’t find out what really happened!
Wi-Fi Makes Responding to Emails Very Easy
One company receives complaints ever month about a notary who is notorious for making mistakes on documents. Whenever the company or clients try to reach the public notary, he doesn’t respond to phone calls, text messages, or emails. When confronted with this issue the public notary always has some lame excuse like he was on vacation or was experiencing a family emergency.
Folks, if you are going to be an OKC public notary, there is NEVER any reason not to answer your messages concerning a signing, especially an email message. In this day and age, Wi-Fi is largely available almost anywhere.
Don’t Make the Company You Work for Look Bad
Diane and Christopher were waiting patiently for their endorser to show up and meet them at a local café. Finally, 20 minutes late, the notary arrives. You would think that he would have apologized to Diane and Christopher, but nope, he was rude to them instead! The signatory didn’t handle the signing professionally and on top of everything, he didn’t fax the appropriate documents. The documents were also not returned properly.
Listen, if you work for a company or are part of a team of public notaries, do your job well because the rest of us don’t feel like looking bad on account of one rotten apple.
Always dress professionally when conducting notary business, and don’t smoke on the job!
Always be prompt, and NEVER make your clients wait on you.