Blasts from the past

I have a good memory for names. Once I've gotten your name in my head (which these days may take one or two times meeting you) it is irrevocably stuck in my vault of mostly useless knowledge. Oh sure, I may not remember WHY I know someone, but I do remember names.

Therein lies one problem - that I can't remember if we went to school together, worked together, or if I arrested or served a paper to them. That is a crucial detail, because for the most part I will treat someone I went to school with differently than someone I had to slap a pair of cuffs on.

The other problem is that I often run into people who I only knew as an acquaintance while serving them a summons or court order. Since I am roughly double the man I was when they knew me 20 or so years ago, people often don't recognize me unless they had at some point imagined what I would have looked like if I had eaten a whole other person. (I really have to hit the gym!)

These problems create a paradox whenever I end up on the doorstep of somebody I haven't seen in 15 to 20 years. Do I decide to pass it off to another guy from the office (something allowed if I have a personal conflict which would create a tricky situation), do I knock and greet them like an old friend before giving them an order to appear in court and explain why they missed their previous court date, or do I knock and pretend that they are just another stranger - and hope that they don't recognize me.

I mostly choose the third option, and while this mostly works out as I had planned, there are many times where the person in question does recognize me, creating an incredibly awkward moment. In fact, I've previously written on this very blog about one of those instances.

I had another of those situations tonight, when I had to serve a pair of summonses on a guy I had grown up with and hadn't seen for over 20 years. His ward met in the same building as mine, and being in the same stake we often played church basketball against each other, ended up at large scout activities together, and so on. He currently owns a landscaping company, and it is being sued because he had purchased a large amount of materials from another company for a project, and the project owner never paid his company for it, leaving him holding the bag. In addition, with the bad economy, his company didn't have the liquidity to just cover the costs. I had finished serving him when he said "don't I recognize you from somewhere?" I re-introduced myself and explained how he knew me. He was really embarrassed, and kept apologizing for me having to bring court papers to him. I reassured him that just about everybody gets sued at some point, and that bad things happen to good people.

I guess that if I end up on your doorstep with court papers, I apologize in advance if it is awkward, and I'll pretend to not know you.

More random things from work

Last night while working, I went to a house looking for a dirtbag we'll call 'Dirtbag Stan'. The man who answered the door said "I bought this house 3½ years ago from his landlord. I don't know him, but if you step inside for a few minutes I think I can help you find him." After I went inside, the man explained that he is a sales manager for a used car dealership in the area. Just a few days ago, he was reviewing the loan applications from the prior day and noticed his own address on one application. Turns out that the applicant in question is Dirtbag Stan. The homeowner said he had the salesman call Dirtbag Stan back to ask about the address. Dirtbag Stan insisted that he owned the house right up until the salesman pointed out that his manager in fact owned the house in question. Then Dirtbag Stan pulls out some story about how he had moved to Idaho, and was in the process of moving back, and thought that the dealership would want a local address to use. Dirtbag Stan then provided the Idaho address. The homeowner has had police at his house looking for Dirtbag Stan before, and thought it might not be a bad idea to keep the new address (and phone number!) on hand for when others came looking for Dirtbag Stan.

- Moral of the story: Kids, if you are going to falsify your loan application, make sure to not use the home address of someone you are trying to get a loan from.

Also while working, I had to serve divorce papers on a man who was still living in the same house as his soon-to-be ex wife. Not only that, but he didn't know it was coming, and she had alleged that in a prior attempt to leave him, he became violent with her. When I went to the house, I could tell that he had a bad temper by the way he talked to his kids. I put him on the spot as I was serving him, asking him point blank if he planned to do anything violent. I warned him against doing anything foolish, and advised him to leave the house if he felt he couldn't control his anger. This is not the first time I've been in this situation, and I gotta say that I am amazed that so many people will put themselves in such a dangerous situation by staying in a home like that.

- Moral of the story: Kids, if you are going to divorce your abusive spouse, find a different place to stay for a few weeks until you can get a judge to make him/her move out.