Process servers – are you more scared of them or are they more scared of you? No doubt, this is a daring, even dangerous profession; and no one can deny that process servers are seriously cool.
Yes, process serving can sometimes be a difficult job. But one highly advantageous benefit of being a process server in Oklahoma City is: you learn the skills to find and identify absolutely anyone. And this can definitely come in handy. Here are some interesting lessons from Dr. Tinsley Ariana Taylor Keefe, as she recalls her experience as a process server in Oklahoma City.
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Be a Master of Disguise
People are never exactly thrilled to meet a process server in OKC; it’s not as though we deliver baskets of fruit or briefcases full of cash! When a person is expecting to be served with a legal notice or court papers, they often try to run from any potential process server sightings.
So, what can we do? Well, walking around wearing a suit and tie, paired with dark sunglasses or a large overcoat, would definitely give a process server away, especially to someone who is expecting a visit from one. But the issue is, legal issues simply can’t process until the process server can verify that they witnessed the person being notified of the legal issue.
Process serving is tricky, so process servers learn how to be tricky in order to do their job. Sometimes, this involves donning different types of outfits – and even uniforms – in order to sneakily deliver the notice to the right person.
Know the Right Place and the Right Time
A common misunderstanding about process serving is that people thing they have to physically touch the legal documents in order to be served. This isn’t true at all; in fact, as soon as a process server in Oklahoma physically finds you and identifies you, consider yourself served.
How do process servers in OKC know where and when to find people who need to be served their legal notices? The obvious option is to find them at their home, but it’s not as simple as that. Many people take their “No trespassers” signs seriously enough to pull out a gun. In other cases, process servers in Oklahoma can manage to get to the front door, but people refuse to answer the door or even claim that they don’t live there at all.
The trick is to make sure to keep an eye on the house over a period of days, to check for signs that the person you’re looking for does indeed live there. Some process servers in OKC place a piece of tape over the keyhole of the main door or on the connecting post between the door frame and the door. If the tape breaks, it means someone definitely lives here and goes in and out of the house.
Other process servers in Oklahoma take strategic photographs of power meter readings, oil spots in the driveway, or of rooms through windows. If things move regularly, it is evidence that the person to be served lives at this address and can be served the legal notice.
Be Ready for Danger
Get talking with process serves in Oklahoma City, and many will tell you that they have found themselves in dangerous, even life-threatening circumstances on more than one occasion. Process serving means being ready for danger – whether weapons are pulled on you, or dogs are sent to chase you away, or dangerous people give you death threats to your face. Of course, Oklahoma state law protects process servers, but there are several steps process servers must still take for their own protection.
The best way that process servers in OKC can be prepared for these types of circumstances is by remaining cautious and ever-vigilant. Stay alert of your environment and retreat any area with suspicious activity. It is also best to render process serving services during the daytime. Lastly, a self-defence course is a good idea to take for everyone, to be able to fight off a physical attack.
Process servers are featured in most TV series and films as the folks who hand the characters all legal notices, from divorce papers to court subpoenas to alimony papers and eviction notices.
Usually, process serving means having to deliver the worst news to people in the most frantic and stressful circumstances. This often makes process servers be seen as “the bad guys”, but really, we are just super cool people doing their job.
