Funny Story #1532: Guy has temper tantrum, calls police on me

Having laid down a little of the groundwork, it's time to tell a few stories from out in the field. I've been working as a process server for about 4 months now, and have plenty. I'll share some from the past and the present, (all the while hoping the future is an attorney job!).

This one is still one my favorites, and it's a good example of knowing the law and being persistent. My defendant owned a small business in a strip mall, and was being sued in contract. Pretty plain Jane stuff that you would expect would lend itself to an easy serve. Well, not really. I had some engagements in the morning and headed over to the business at about 9:30am. They weren't open so I headed next door for a cup of coffee and waited in my car. By 10, here comes the guy. He unlocks the door and I approach. -This was also a small lesson for me, when people see you come out of your car having obviously waited for them, and when they know you're not coming to give them a lollipop, they usually aren't happy.

He immediately locked the door back up and I knocked.
"Hi are you Mr. X?"
"This is private property!"
"Are you Mr. X"
*yelling at me through the window, I can't really hear what he's saying"
"can you open the door, I'm looking for Mr. X, I have documents for him"
"This is private property, get out of here!"
"Ok, I'll wait for Mr. X" (full knowing he's they guy, and the sidewalk in front of his business is not his property, AND I'm an invitee to the adjacent coffee shop. Oh, and it was a great cup of coffee)

Some time goes by. and I'm just hanging out there. Finally he bangs on the window at me.
"I'm calling the police!"
"Ok, you do that"

And he did that, the police showed up, 3 cars actually because no doubt he was trying to say I was attempted to break into his business. This is where I calmly walk over to the squad car.
"are you the guy that called us?"
"no sir, I'm a private process server and I have a summons to deliver to Mr. X. He flipped out and would not tell me if he was Mr. X. I made no attempt to get into his place, just tapped on the window and showed him the summons through it."
"ok."

it was there that police went and spoke to Mr. X. who was flipping out all the while and trying to argue about why he was being served.

Great moments include: "this is the United States of America! this shouldn't happen!" obviously understanding that's exactly why it was happening (see the due process discussion earlier).
also, after explaining that I was an uninterested 3rd party, just delivering papers, Mr. X was more or less at a loss for words: "well.... Good luck with that!" yet another person who thinks that a process server is making the suit happen as opposed to the party pressing it.

So, in the end. Mr. X got served, by the police. The whole thing was so funny that the junior officers on the scene were smirking at me during Mr. X's tirade. I even said to one of them "hey, my coffee's getting cold, you mind if I get it out of my car?" -"no, go ahead"

a good cup of coffee and live entertainment. This is a great story about someone making a fool of themselves and actually having themselves served and a warning issued, presumably because he made a false call to the police.

Moral of the story, don't wig out on the messenger or any other variant of that same saying. I get paid to give you papers. Please, let's not make it personal, leave me be so I can get on to the next serve. Moral for me: never lose your cool, if the guy is wrong, he's wrong and the police might just show up to do your job for you.