Here’s some examples from my own life of these sorts of rituals to make things official:
I sent a document to my 401k administrator. They rejected it because I had signed it by inserting an image of my signature. Solution: export the PDF to JPEG and then create a PDF from the JPEG so my signature was “baked in” to the document the way it would be if scanned. They accepted it.
Had to get my not-court-ordered alimony agreement notarized so it could be used in some official function. Literally all this did was certify that I signed it at a particular place and time. Apparently that was all it took.
Had to send a few letters certified mail regarding a security deposit dispute. Why? The law says if I send them that way they count as an “objection”, and if I don’t they don’t.
Also, one I remember from when I was a kid but that I never had to do:
My parents, in order to work for the county school board (they were both teachers), had to sign “loyalty oath” stating they were not communists or atheists. They weren’t, but obviously this was a fool-proof mechanism for ensuring only red-blooded Americans were teaching the next generation.
I lived in NY state for a short time. Turns out, to get a photo ID or driver’s license there you have to have birth certificate && social security card && 6 points worth of qualifying documents. Most people aren’t super likely to be able to produce 6 points of documents (I got up to 2 points), but you can use a state issued photo ID for all 6 points. Oh, and if your name has a numeral after it (III, for example), that numeral must be present on each and every one of those documents, or they don’t count. I don’t know if it’s changed since, but I went without a photo ID while I lived there.
Likewise in NY, if you want to change your name after getting married, your marriage certificate had better look exactly like the clerk expects. Even with an already-changed social security card, the old card, a birth certificate, and an out-of-state marriage certificate, you’re out of luck getting your driver’s licence updated.
I currently work in intermodal rail (interfacing the rail and trucking industries). If you’re bringing a shipping container (or trailer) in, all your paperwork had better be in order before you come to the gate to check in. Else you usually have to physically leave the property before you’re allowed to try again, even if you could fix the issue in a few seconds on the phone. Folks hate that one pretty hard, but I can actually explain where it comes from. Turns out somebody up in corporate doesn’t like drivers hanging around on the property where they could get bored and cause trouble, thinks somebody might hide a bomb or something in one of those shipping containers, and dislikes the bottleneck that proceeds from several people having problems at once and all sticking around while they call their companies to get it fixed.
The number of reports we have to file for the purpose of proving that we filed the reports is astonishing. Many of them contain large swaths of the same information as other reports, as well. We look up nearly all that information on the automated reports system, then have to copy-paste them into spreadsheets and emails.
I even have to send the emails if the reports are empty because what we’re reporting on didn’t happen that day. There’s no special format for this, I just send an email with a blank body to prevent getting an email asking why I didn’t file the report.
I grew up on Long Island and agree that the ID points rules are hard for a lot of people to fulfill. If you’re under 21, and have a birth certificate and social security card, then you just need your parents to say you are who you claim, though. That is, as long as they have ID.
Here’s some examples from my own life of these sorts of rituals to make things official:
I sent a document to my 401k administrator. They rejected it because I had signed it by inserting an image of my signature. Solution: export the PDF to JPEG and then create a PDF from the JPEG so my signature was “baked in” to the document the way it would be if scanned. They accepted it.
Had to get my not-court-ordered alimony agreement notarized so it could be used in some official function. Literally all this did was certify that I signed it at a particular place and time. Apparently that was all it took.
Had to send a few letters certified mail regarding a security deposit dispute. Why? The law says if I send them that way they count as an “objection”, and if I don’t they don’t.
Also, one I remember from when I was a kid but that I never had to do:
My parents, in order to work for the county school board (they were both teachers), had to sign “loyalty oath” stating they were not communists or atheists. They weren’t, but obviously this was a fool-proof mechanism for ensuring only red-blooded Americans were teaching the next generation.
I lived in NY state for a short time. Turns out, to get a photo ID or driver’s license there you have to have birth certificate && social security card && 6 points worth of qualifying documents. Most people aren’t super likely to be able to produce 6 points of documents (I got up to 2 points), but you can use a state issued photo ID for all 6 points. Oh, and if your name has a numeral after it (III, for example), that numeral must be present on each and every one of those documents, or they don’t count. I don’t know if it’s changed since, but I went without a photo ID while I lived there.
Likewise in NY, if you want to change your name after getting married, your marriage certificate had better look exactly like the clerk expects. Even with an already-changed social security card, the old card, a birth certificate, and an out-of-state marriage certificate, you’re out of luck getting your driver’s licence updated.
I currently work in intermodal rail (interfacing the rail and trucking industries). If you’re bringing a shipping container (or trailer) in, all your paperwork had better be in order before you come to the gate to check in. Else you usually have to physically leave the property before you’re allowed to try again, even if you could fix the issue in a few seconds on the phone.
Folks hate that one pretty hard, but I can actually explain where it comes from. Turns out somebody up in corporate doesn’t like drivers hanging around on the property where they could get bored and cause trouble, thinks somebody might hide a bomb or something in one of those shipping containers, and dislikes the bottleneck that proceeds from several people having problems at once and all sticking around while they call their companies to get it fixed.
The number of reports we have to file for the purpose of proving that we filed the reports is astonishing. Many of them contain large swaths of the same information as other reports, as well. We look up nearly all that information on the automated reports system, then have to copy-paste them into spreadsheets and emails.
I even have to send the emails if the reports are empty because what we’re reporting on didn’t happen that day. There’s no special format for this, I just send an email with a blank body to prevent getting an email asking why I didn’t file the report.
I grew up on Long Island and agree that the ID points rules are hard for a lot of people to fulfill. If you’re under 21, and have a birth certificate and social security card, then you just need your parents to say you are who you claim, though. That is, as long as they have ID.