Jun10

prints.

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when i went to have my fingerprints redone

as part of a routine teacher employment screening

that happens every few years

i wasn’t really prepared

for the fingerprint tech

with her no-nonsense voice

barking out my name from a backroom

where i was waiting with a random group of people,

“BETH!”

walking in

she began talking at me

through her plastic protection shield

telling me to relax

big, scary nails

shaking out my hands

i tried to connect with a bit of small talk

telling me not to tell her anything

not printed on my paperwork

or i’d have to start the process all over again

beginning with making a new appointment

telling me not to ask her to repeat anything

just do what i was told

“are you hearing what i’m telling you?”

“kind of..”

from that point on

she spoke at me using an even louder voice

former military/law enforcement/bad prison experience?

was i going to have to drop and do 100 push-ups?

i feel like she has a story..

almost felt like it was a hazing

or a police sting operation

did they know about my parking ticket from way back in grad school

that may have gone unpaid

when i was hoping for amnesty?

—

“values are like fingerprints. nobody’s are the same, but you leave ’em all over everything you do.”

-elvis presley

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70 responses »

  5. Even though I retired in 2006 , I’ve renewed my certificate every five years. Last time was a nightmare. $75 fee to state with application. Police station and courts booked up for fingerprinting for 4 months. Had moble unit come to house for personal fingerprinting. that was $150. Then send print cards to state licensed fowarding company to send to state crime division for criminal records check and receive results and forward to state $50. I be 74 next week and am asking myself “Do I really need to put myself through ths anymore and do I really think I’m going back to work maybe for just a year or two ?”

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  6. Yikes! As a Monday-morning quarterback, I might have been tempted to turn around just before I was leaving her sight and say, “I hope you have a better day tomorrow.” Sadly, I remember a time when I could get a bit ‘barky’, which had nothing to do with what was going on in the present, and I encouraged friends and family to IMMEDIATELY call me on it so I could be conscious. Finally broke that habit!

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  7. Or maybe she talks louder to anybody with a birth date that falls earlier than a certain year, Beth. That’s what my sleuthing talents (and tendency to think WHAT? in certain sound situations) could lead to …

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  8. I had no idea that you had to be fingerprinted to stay working as a teacher. You might think that the technician could be a little friendlier, as she was not dealing with a criminal.
    Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. No fingerprinting in Illinois. Don’t give them ideas, they’d probably figure a way to charge for it. Sad to read about your experience. Be curious, not judgmental: all of us are waking around carrying something that no one knows.

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  16. I had no idea teachers had to do anything like that. All I can say about that unpleasant woman is she probably has to do that dozens or hundreds of times a day, every day. DMV can hardly get my prints anymore; they sort of flatten out and/or wear down as you age. But at least the lady was nice about it.

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    • yes, I feel she was a bit hardened through years of experience. I’m happy they screen teachers, to keep kids safe, and it normal Is no big deal –

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  17. Well that wasn’t ECC warm and fuzzy!!
    I still find it jarring to experience an interaction that is harsh. Feel so fortunate and blessed that my world is filled with gentler, kinder folks and feel for others that they can’t experience the same.

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  19. Elvis was right. I’m having a really hard time understanding people right now. Your experience here adds to the layers of incomprehensibility. I also had to be fingerprinted frequently when I was teaching. No one treated me like that.

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  20. I was fingerprinted before taking the Bar Exam and the officer (no doubt a relative to your fingerprint tech) looked at my hands and barked out to the room: “Never did a day’s hard work.” I didn’t know whether to say thank you or mention my construction summer jobs. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

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  25. Oh my goodness! I remember one retail store in Tenn. that required a fingerprint to write a check for merchandise. I stopped shopping there. I think most others did as well. They should at least be kind about it since you’ve been teaching for many years without questioning your integrity.

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  27. Haha! The woman takes her job seriously. After many years, The DMV has finally gotten much better in California. Most routine business can be handled online, and it’s far more efficient than in the past when I’d stand in a line for 40 minutes only to be told I was in the wrong line.

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  32. No finger printing in the Uk unless they arrest you
    I’ve been finger printed many times entering the USA even though I don’t have a criminal record

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