Every service assignment is unique. Each must be approached carefully and with attention paid to every detail. Although being a process server is no more dangerous than many other jobs it is the perceived source of the threat (people) that makes many individuals uncomfortable about doing this job.
Here we’ll discuss a few of the obstacles encountered by professional process servers and offer some suggestions on how to avoid them or reduce their impact.
Driving
Process servers drive thousands of miles each year. Over a career a good server might drive the distance to the moon and back a couple of times. If there is a place a server is likely to get hurt it is while driving on a public roadway. Good servers learn to drive defensively and to do all the things we were taught in driving school but to which we didn’t pay immediate attention. Things such as:
- Keep your speed down. Not only is it safer but it increases the distance you can travel on a gallon of gasoline.
- Do what other drivers expect you to do. Don’t surprise them.
- Watch out for other drivers not doing what you expect them to do. They will always surprise you. Be prepared.
- Take good care of your car. You want the brakes (etc) to work when you need them.
- Learn how to drive in all weather conditions.
- Know your coverage area. Learn all the back routes. Get the lay of the land.
- And more than anything else – PAY ATTENTION. Most auto accidents are caused by driver inattention.
Simply put, you don’t make any money when you’re stopped by a police officer for a traffic infraction or involved in an accident (even if it was the other guys fault). Your goal is to make as many serves as you can in a given time period. You can’t do that if you can’t get from point A to point B smoothly and efficiently.
Trip and Fall
You’re walking up a sidewalk about to knock on a door when you step on a garden tool carelessly left out by the home owner. You’re walking down a building corridor when you hit a wet spot where someone just spilled coffee. You name it and it can happen to you. But only if you’re not paying attention. “Pay attention” is something you will hear again and again. It sounds so easy – “Pay attention.” And yet is so easy to not pay attention. You might be thinking about the serve you’re about to attempt or you might be thinking about the one you just completed. But whatever it is you are thinking about it is not what you are doing at the time. The result, you step on that garden tool or fall when you slide on that spilled coffee.
You’re a process server. You make your living serving legal documents which concern accidents in which other people are involved – not the ones in which you are involved.
Dogs and Animals
If you are afraid of dogs you won’t make it as a process server. Servers have to deal with them on a day in and day out basis. For a full discussion of this problem see the section entitled Dogs and Other Dangerous Animals. But above all – Pay Attention.
People’s Behavior
This is the frightening part. Process servers get yelled at and they get chased but they are hardly ever hurt by people. Some servers are injured in this type of conflict but the number is quite small especially when compared to the rates of injury in other professions.
It is amazing how uncivil people can be when they are the subject of a law suit or are being called as a witness. While most people, over 95%, are perfectly reasonable about being served there are always a few who will want to take out their frustration on the process server.
Of that remaining 5% most of them will do little more than avoid service or berate the process server verbally for being willing to perform such a “miserable” or “evil” job such as process serving.
But there is always that remaining small number, 1% or less, who will become violent and attempt to do the server bodily harm. These people tend to have other issues in their lives which leads them to behave in an aggressive manner. The problem is you don’t know in advance which door will be opened by a person such as this. So once again it comes down to Pay Attention.
Don’t Make Assumptions
Whenever you assume something you risk running afoul of an old adage about that word – “If you assume you will make an ass-u-me.” The “u” and “me” will almost certainly involve “you” and your client or employer.
One of the easiest assumptions to make is that someone is lying to you when you’re trying to make a service. For instance, suppose you’ve been to the same house 4 times and each time the door is answered by a person who claims he or she isn’t the target you’re attempting to serve. But parked in the driveway is a car you know is registered to the servee. So on the 5th attempt, when you get the same answer, you serve the papers anyway feeling sure you’ve caught the person in a lie.
Unfortunately for you, some 6 months later you receive a telephone call from your client informing you the service is being contested and the person with whom you left the documents was simply a neighbor who had come over to watch the target’s house while he or she was in Europe for an extended vacation. It was a personal injury case involving major damages and the statute of limitations has now passed. Your next call is to your errors and omissions insurance carrier because you are now being held responsible for the plaintiff’s damages.
Be Courteous
It is amazing how far a simple “please” or “thank you” will go when working in difficult circumstances. Generally, in American culture, these words are signs and symbols of respect. And they cost nothing.
On any given day a process server will complete service assignments in high rise business towers in a major city and miles out in the country at the home of a person who’s been unemployed for months. In both situations the goal is the same, obtain service. And the one tool which is most likely to benefit you the most in both situations is simple courtesy.
Conclusion
We can conclude from the above that certain behaviors on your part can keep you out of trouble, will allow you to make more money with less work, and will generally make your life as a process server better.
Pay attention, don’t assume anything, and practice simple courtesy.
This quiz is for logged in users only.
This is a rough diagram of a typical courtroom in the state of Washington. Courtrooms vary a great deal from city to city and county to county but they all have the same basic structure.
Â