I believe in many things. Two of them are: 1) know what you are and 2) be proud of what you are.
One of the first business books I ever read was “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S. Clason. One of the many thoughts that have stuck with me over the years was a passage, and I am paraphrasing, “Don’t send your bricklayer to buy your jewelry!” I think of this as sound wisdom.
I was with some co-workers after work one Friday having some cold ones and struck up a conversation with a gentleman discussing the usual “bar speak”. When the question came up about our careers, I proudly told him I was a process server. He handed me a business card that had all the usual information and D.D.S. was under his name. I asked how long he had been a dentist and he responded, “I’m not a dentist I am a Door To Door Salesperson.”
That being said, many people in the process service business do it as a “side” job. Many times just the name of the company will give you the necessary information you need, such as ABC Investigations and Process Serving. I look at a name like this to be investigations first and process serving second.
I love to ask a private investigator what they do for a living and they respond that they are a private investigator. Not one has ever responded that they are a process server. When asked if they serve papers they generally tell me, “Oh, we do that too.” I follow up with the obvious next question, “If you had a choice on doing investigations or process serving, what would you prefer doing?” Literally all of them responded investigations.
I am located in a state where most private investigators are retired police officers. They have told me that they opened a private investigations business to “keep me busy or keeps the wife off my back.”
Over the years I have used vendors like this and was many times disappointed with their service. I was treated as a second class citizen because all I wanted was the papers served. They tried to sell me on ancillary services such as,stake out time
and database checks to name just a few. I was quoted one price and more times than I care to count they just billed me for these ancillary services without my consent. Not to mention they tried to add an hourly rate to the price they quoted or worst yet they charged by the attempt.
Private investigators have an important place in the legal industry and I am glad that they are proud of being a private investigator. They are not very proud of being a process server. They look at it as beneath them and are very open as to their priorities on doing investigations or serving process.
Be proud of what you do. Be proud of what you are. And when you come to a name of a company ABC Butchers and Bridal Services, ask yourself what you want from them, a steak or a dress.
