I'm just wondering what you all think of this. Right now I work in an office suite processing minor shipments that are sent by individuals. Basically it's either family sending to family or business sending to business.

Recently they've been telling us we must become notaries in addition to our regular tasks. Now I'm very logical and to me had I wanted to take up the legal obligations of a notary I would be working at a bank! So this begs the question, are they trying to take advantage of me?

Some things to consider are everyone is required to become a notary that works the 9 AM - 5 PM shift, at least this is what I've been told. They seem to have a half-assed approach to running this place, no one really knows what's going on most of the time.

I make 10.95 an hour right now, I get around 140 taken out for medical, dental, and vision. I also have around 35 taken out for my 401K. Thus I must ask you guys, isn't asking us to be notaries a little to much work for the wage?

Consider this, I'm the only person actually working here most of the time, usually everyone else leaves around 4 PM. That would mean I'd need to manage shipping whatever comes in, packing it if they request, and processing the stuff. If suddenly I have people coming in for notary services in addition to my regular stuff I just don't see how it will work. I can barely keep people moving regularly without causing alot of lag, this seems ridiculious to me.

Now to be fair there is alot of down time during which I don't do anything, it varies by the hours. I just feel they're pressing the limits of what 1 person is able to do alone. I've had people want packing done for an item while others had to wait 5 minutes or more to get help from me, not because I like it but because I'm the only one here.

It's not busy much, but mostly they all come together, so I'd likely get people asking me to notarize something then another 2 people asking me to ship something out. It's no possible from the way I see it.

Feel free to ask questions.

Yes, they're taking advantage of you! Quit immediately!

Baron Max

Is that sarcasm :-Z~

Who cares? Don't trust Baron's judgment. He hates civilization.

Who cares? Don't trust Baron's judgment. He hates civilization.

All that's true, but that doesn't negate the FACT that the company is taking advantage of him. Can't y'all see that????

I'm trying to give him good, helpful advice. Y'all aren't helping him at all.

Baron Max

what does becoming a notary entail?

baron:
All that's true, but that doesn't negate the FACT
oooh get you talkin' bout negate and facts an' all, you done gone turned all fancy on us boi.

All that's true, but that doesn't negate the FACT that the company is taking advantage of him. Can't y'all see that????

I'm trying to give him good, helpful advice. Y'all aren't helping him at all.

Baron Max

It could be construed as exploitation, but sderenzi isn't an indentured servant. His employment is an agreement; if he doesn't like the new arrangements, then it's his responsibility to do something about it.

Ostensibly sderenzi doesn't like the new arrangements. The real question here, then, is of circumstance. Would quitting or negotiating be better decisions than sucking it up? What would happen in each case?

All that's true, but that doesn't negate the FACT that the company is taking advantage of him. Can't y'all see that????

I'm trying to give him good, helpful advice. Y'all aren't helping him at all.

Baron Max

Don't you mean ain't :bugeye:

Becoming a notary requires a knowledge of how to properly notarize documents of anykind. We are given a 5,000 bond in case of a lawsuit (because if the documentation is notarized incorrectly we can be personally sued).

I don't know about you guys but I know I'll eventually make a mistake notarizing one document, maybe I'll be tired, maybe sleepy, but then bam I'll screw up and the person will probably be pissed. I'm not here to get yelled at about how I messed notarizing something up because 3 other people were trying to get help shipping at the same time :-Z~

Also we have like 3 books that explain how to correctly notorize. It's really kinda stupid, I'm no genius and they're pretty serious stuff.

I don't know about you guys but I know I'll eventually make a mistake notarizing one document, ...

So what? Can't you make a mistake in shipping now as it is? So what? Maybe you'll get fired and then you'll be happy that you won't have to become a notary.

Geez, this topic sucks giant donkey dicks ......'course that's like most of the topics here, so...?

Baron Max

Also we have like 3 books that explain how to correctly notorize. It's really kinda stupid, I'm no genius and they're pretty serious stuff.
ok, lets start from scratch.
give us some proper details first.
nature of business, number of employees, is it a family run business etc.

Don't you mean ain't :bugeye:
exactly.

baron:
Geez, this topic sucks giant donkey dicks
that's more like it.
welcome back, you had me worried there for a second, talking all that jive about negate, and facts n stuff.

don't you worry your purdy lill heeed about facts y'hear?

Nature of business - Shipping

Number of employees - 2 other then myself

Is it a family run business etc. -It's FedEx Kinko's

You see they merged awhile back, during this merge they changed alot of the Federal Express shipping centers to FedEx Kinko's Ship Centers. This name change affords them the chance to offer office + print services in addition to shipping. The only problem is they call this branch FedEx Kinko's Ship Center. It's specifically for shipping, we don't do anything else. I can understand them wanting to make more money by offering more services, but honestly with only 2 other employees (both leaving around 4 PM) I can't see much time for me to manage the place alone at night, then notorize legal documents. It's somewhat crazy :-Z~

We already take passport pictures, and considering this takes about 7 minutes to complete that's 7 minutes customers will need to wait around if they're trying to ship anything. It's ridiculious to me.

You gotta be kidding. Being a notary is nothing. You check a driver's license to make sure the photo on it matches the face in front of you. And we all know what good likenesses those are. Then you sign the document, date it, and put down a couple of details like when your commission expires.

The last time I had something notarized, the lady didn't even stick around to watch me sign the document.

Don't make such a big deal out of this. Notarization is a clerical task that happens to require licensing because it carries a legal responsibility.

You could get in legal trouble if you help someone commit fraud. For example your sixteen-year old friend cops her mother's driver's license out of her purse, drags in a lady who only looks a little bit like her, and asks you to notarize her signature permitting an underage marriage. Other than that there really aren't any opportunties to screw up.

What you can do is use your license off duty to make extra money. People are always desperate to get something notarized after office hours for a real estate deal or something like that and they'll happily pay you 25 bucks for the ten minutes of your time. Frankly I don't see any down-side for you.

Nature of business - Shipping

Number of employees - 2 other then myself

Is it a family run business etc. -It's FedEx Kinko's

You see they merged awhile back, during this merge they changed alot of the Federal Express shipping centers to FedEx Kinko's Ship Centers. This name change affords them the chance to offer office + print services in addition to shipping. The only problem is they call this branch FedEx Kinko's Ship Center. It's specifically for shipping, we don't do anything else. I can understand them wanting to make more money by offering more services, but honestly with only 2 other employees (both leaving around 4 PM) I can't see much time for me to manage the place alone at night, then notorize legal documents. It's somewhat crazy :-Z~

We already take passport pictures, and considering this takes about 7 minutes to complete that's 7 minutes customers will need to wait around if they're trying to ship anything. It's ridiculious to me.
im not familar with the structure of fedex kinkos, but it sounds like a franchise to me.
anyhow, now that I have a better idea of the size of the operation, then I have to say that you have to expect this in SMEs (small to medium enterprises) it's simple logistics, you have a very small number of employees, hence each employee has to undertake a wider range of tasks.

notarisation of docs isn't difficult.

have they increased your wage?

What you can do is use your license off duty to make extra money. People are always desperate to get something notarized after office hours for a real estate deal or something like that and they'll happily pay you 25 bucks for the ten minutes of your time. Frankly I don't see any down-side for you.
Sounds like an opprtunity.

I luV u!

See how it goes.

If it's that shitty, quit. Are you and your office buddies part of a union? Do you reckon if you all got together and demanded a rise anything would happen?

It's a new skill to add to your C.V/resume, could be handy for the future and might break up your day a little bit. Although it is a tad shitty the way the company expect you all to do it with no incentives.

1. WTF is a notary?
2. any change to the contract must be agreed upon by both the employee and the employer; if you dont want to change the job description outlined in that contract then they cant make you.

1. WTF is a notary?
2. any change to the contract must be agreed upon by both the employee and the employer; if you dont want to change the job description outlined in that contract then they cant make you.

1. Someone licenced to attest or certify documents. They're mostly used to certify signature(s) on legal documents.

2. It's highly unlikely that such a minor change in an employees responsibilities would require a contract change. Businesses would come to a screeching half it they had to negotiate every little detail of everyday office tasks every time there was a change. It's even more unlikely that someone working for Fedex/Kinko’s for $10.95 an hour has a contract in the first place.

FR is absolutely right. This is more of an opportunity than an impingement.

~Raithere

im not sure about america, but here if you work, you must have a contract to protect the rights of both you and the employer. and if being responsible for the processing of legal documents is a minor detail, then why is there such a penalty for fraud in this area?

im not sure about america, but here if you work, you must have a contract to protect the rights of both you and the employer. and if being responsible for the processing of legal documents is a minor detail, then why is there such a penalty for fraud in this area? Workers’ and employers’ rights in the US are generally protected by law rather than personal contracts. Contracts are typically reserved for special circumstances… special requirements, benefits, terms of employment… usually agreements that limit or expand the rights of one party or the other beyond what is proscribed by law.

Although there is some added responsibility, it’s really not much more than being responsible for shipping and photocopying. You can get in just as much trouble committing fraud or felony in these areas as being a notary.

~Raithere

Work is too much when you begin writing sentences such as "When is work is to much?".

:p

1. WTF is a notary?
it's a yank thang.

im not sure about america, but here if you work, you must have a contract to protect the rights of both you and the employer. and if being responsible for the processing of legal documents is a minor detail, then why is there such a penalty for fraud in this area?
ooh new zealand? looks nice.
is that baffoon kiwi123 from NZ?

Right now I work in an office suite processing minor shipments that are sent by individuals.
Do you like your job?

i certainly hope they arent. and i cant say i have ever met someone outside of parliament who supports israel.

1. WTF is a notary?It's short for "notary public." A person who is licensed by the court system to verify that a signature on a document was in fact made by the person named and not a forgery.

Other countries whose legal systems derive from English law also use notaries public (that's the plural form). Some require more training than the USA so theirs have the authority to provide more services than ours do.

A person becomes a notary more because of convenience than of any opportunity. I was a notary for a while until my commission expired and I never bothered to renew it. I only became one because I was involved in an auto shop and we bought and sold a lot of cars: the titles need to be notarized for transfer. My bank will notarize anything for free because I am a customer. Notaries - by law - can charge no more than the state's set fee. Twenty years ago in Ohio that fee was about $2. Not worth much for anyone's time to do as an occupation for a living.

so its sort of like a justice of the peace then? except they can be appointed by companies... weird.

sderenzi,

It's a tough issue. I personally ran into something similar recently. Someone on my team quit (he did a different job than most of the team) and my boss asked me to do his job in addition to mine.

I asked myself these questions:
* Am I interested in the new work? The answer was no.
* Does the new work give me any competitive edge? The answer was no.

What I did at this point was had a discussion with my boss and told him this flat out. I explained that I realized we do need someone to do that work and that I was willing to help him out until we can get that resource but I asked for a firm timeline. I received a committment of about 1 week to train some additional resources for the work and then I could focus exlusively on the job I was hired for. It worked.

Becoming a notary requires a knowledge of how to properly notarize documents of anykind. We are given a 5,000 bond in case of a lawsuit (because if the documentation is notarized incorrectly we can be personally sued).

I don't know about you guys but I know I'll eventually make a mistake notarizing one document, maybe I'll be tired, maybe sleepy, but then bam I'll screw up and the person will probably be pissed. I'm not here to get yelled at about how I messed notarizing something up because 3 other people were trying to get help shipping at the same time :-Z~
I don't know if it's different where you are, but in the US being a notary is no big deal. You pay a fee, get bonded, that's about it. Everyone at the office I buy my insurance at is a notary. My mom, who works for an insurance company, is a notary. It's no big deal, just a perk you can offer your custumers.

Recently, I had to have some legal documents notarized. So I popped into my insurance guy's office and had it done. While I was there, I bought a new insurance policy. That's the idea. Give you clients more reasons to come to your place of business.

Yes, true. But then again who cares really, it's only 1 dollar here and the legal risk is pretty high (at least to me). Who wants to worry about possible legal ramifications when the damn thing is only 1 dollar an they have Currency Exchanges for this type of thing?

Even if more people visit, what's the edge? 1 buck? I'll pay them 1 dollar if they think it's that big a deal.

There is only one reason you work, and that is to keep the rich wealthy and free from doing any work. If you made $500,000 per week like they do, you can do whatever you want.

Yes, you should be a lazy pompous jackass like licks luke instead.