The job entails affecting service regarding summary proceedings in the unified court system which is comprised of the civil, state, federal and family courts.

What the heck does that mean?

If someone sues you, the law states that you must be officially notified of the complaint against you. The client, usually the plaintiff (the person who is suing) or the plaintiff's attorney will hire a process server, like myself, to hand-deliver you that notification in the form of official papers.

I'll get information about the person from the client, sometimes a description, or a picture, and where I might find them. When I make contact, I have to identify myself, get them to identify themselves, and once I make a positive ID, I inform them I am serving them legal papers, and I hand them over. Of course, they don't have to take them. They can drop them at their feet so long as they confirm, in some manner, that they understand what has just happened.

What's the most common excuse people try to use to avoid being served?

There are a lot, but what a lot of folks don't understand is that it doesn't matter to me. The person they need to deal with is the person who sued them. A lot of people will tell me "I paid." That's great, but it's not my problem. Whatever the details of the individual case are, they still have to get served.

How would you serve papers to someone who was deaf?

I don't know that it would be that different. I'd have to get the individual's attention and I would try to have him or her read them. Probably the best way, would be to show them the papers and make sure they read them. I would need to get them to understand what they are seeing.

What's the most original way someone has tried to avoid being served?

There's not a lot of originality. People run, they lie and generally they will just deny that they are who they are.

I have had water thrown at me, beer thrown at me, dogs sicced on me, you name it.

What happened with the dog?

It was a great dane; big dog. I was serving papers to this old lady, and as she answered her door this dog came out in the hallway with me, and she closed the door, leaving the dog outside. It was just me and the dog, staring at each other, for 30 seconds. It was tense. He was really smart with a personality. He was waiting me out. We both were motionless. If I would have moved abruptly, he would have been on me. Then she opened the door and picked up the papers. The dog ran back inside. It was a real face-off. I didn't urinate on myself, but it was a close thing.

Is there any way you can prepare for a potentially violent encounter?

There's never any telling. Sometimes, a client might give you a warning that a certain individual might be violent, all you can do is just be as careful as can be on every job, and proceed with caution.

Given all your experience serving people with papers, if you knew you were going to be sued and really didn't want those papers served to you, how would you go about avoiding the process server?

That's a good question. I've never been in that situation, but I'll tell you, if somebody's suing you there is no point in running. The only thing you're going to do is prolong the process.