I recently got a new job and I have to sign a contract for the job, get it notarized, and mail it in. I cannot get paid until I send it in and then it takes about 6 weeks to process it…needless to say, I have been trying to get it done so that I can get paid! Today, I decided that I should be semi-productive and get it done. So I get all of my stuff ready to mail off and all I have to do is get it notarized, which I was told you should be able to go to any bank and do it. So I get in the car, feeling rather merry because I am going to get this done, and I go to the first bank I see, about 2 blocks away from school. This bank is a credit union so I am thinking that the chances of me getting it done here are slim, since they probably require that you have an account there, but I decided it was worth a shot. They denied me, as expected, but told me that the DOL next door does it but there is a fee of five dollars. Being the poor college student that I am, there was no way I was going to pay five bones when I could go to a bank and get it done there for free. So on my way to the next bank, I spot a closer one. I go in and they were so willing to help me, until they asked if I had an account there, which I don’t, so I was turned away again. I was still feeling pretty good though because I was now going to go to a bank where I have an account. I go in, they tell me they can do it, and I sit down feeling like this was finally going to get done. After the guy, who was very nice, looked at the forms, he told me that, actually, he couldn’t do it. He had never been presented with a form like this and he did not know if he was qualified to notarize it. In my head I am thinking, All you have to do is look at my license and social security card and say that they are legit and then watch me sign it and then you have to sign it…you are not qualified to do that? Do you not know what a driver’s license and social security card are supposed to look like? But I graciously left and I felt a little defeated but I was just going to have to pay the fee at the DOL, which I was willing to do just so that I did not have to deal with it any more. I get to the DOL and walk in. I looked up at the board which listed their services and the prices. There were several listings that were unrelated to me: car tabs, license renewal, etc. and when I finally found notary public with $5.00 listed next to it, I was excited that I was finally going to get it done. That was until I read the fine print underneath it. It read, Cash Only. My heart felt like it stopped, my face turned red and started burning, and that was when the real feeling of defeat set in. I NEVER carry cash, who carries cash anymore? I then thought, Oh I can just go to the ATM at the school and get some money. That was when I remembered that the ATM charges a fee and you can only get cash in increments of $20. I was fuming! What is it going to take for me to get this thing notarized?!
At this point I am just frustrated that I still have this darn thing sitting on my desk, just waiting to be notarized. I am having dinner with my mom tonight and I called her to tell her situation so I have some hope that tonight she will have a five dollar bill and solve all of my problems. After this, the only possible thing that could go wrong would be to have them tell me that they also cannot notarize it because they have never been presented with this kind of form before.
As you can tell, I still have a little bit of bitterness toward that poor man at the bank who was just doing his job. Let’s just hope that by this time tomorrow I will have that thing in the mail and out of my life forever, and that I never have to get anything notarized ever again.
