Fingerprinting Nightmares!!

This is really just too annoying!!

I have been going for my contractors license now for a few months. I've done hours and hours of school, studying, on-line testing, classroom testing, crash courses, etc... I'm ready to go! My final test is coming up and I will be a certified and registered contractor with a "B" license. (General Contractor)It's all good.

Well, one of the requirements for the State licensing is that you have to submit a full set of Live Scan fingerprints prior to your final exam. Okay, no problem right? I mean if you're not a criminal and you have nothing to hide then WTF??? No problem. WELL YOU'D THINK NOT!!!

So here I am, a 48 year old caucasian woman. I have never been arrested. I have never been in jail for anything what so ever. I'm a good citizen that works hard and makes an honest living. Never been on welfare, I have never have had any type of assistance of any kind from anyone or any organization. I am a credit to society.

Nothing to fear!

So I go in for my scheduled "Live Scan" fingerprinting. Now with Live Scan there is no ink or mess involved. Your fingers are rolled on a clean screen and the computer records everything. It's clean, it's fast and it's very accurate.

You cannot get your license these days without the fingerprinting. So there I am at the place, and the girl starts rolling my prints. As each print comes up on screen she keeps muttering things like, "Oh no", "Not good", "Oh, this is bad."

Finally, I'm like..."Hey, HELLO... Is something the matter?"

"Well, actually, yes." She replies. "Do you rodeo or work with horses at all?"

"Uhhh, yeah... I've had horses all my life. Is there a problem?" I'm getting a bit worried now.

"Yes, yes, I've seen this a few times. You are missing parts of half your fingerprints." She says it so non-chalantly I think that it's a joke.

"Ha, ha.." I laugh. "No really, what's the matter?"

"No really, you ARE missing parts of half your fingerprints and the FBI takes this very seriously." She looks strangely scared like she's afraid she'll get blamed for the missing prints on my fingers.

"It's very common with people who have worked with livestock or horses. You know, cuts, scrapes and rope burns.... they can totally destroy your fingerprints." She states very matter-of-factly.

"Okay, well so, what's the big deal... it's not like I murdered someone and burned them off. I came by the defect honestly." I shrug off her concern.

"No, no... you don't understand, you will not be allowed to get your license until your prints are examined by an FBI fingerprinting specialist, which can take up to 6 months to get scheduled." She stammers, all the while looking at me like I'm going to smack her or something.

Ohhhhhh noooo, now I AM getting mad!!! I try to control my anger and smile at her. "Are you telling me that even if I pass this test with flying colors, I will be denied my license until at which time some fat-ass FBI agent determines that I did not deliberately remove the prints off the tips of my fingers?" I am in total disbelief. I can not believe what she is implying.

"Basically what will happen is that the FBI will send you a fingerscan rejection letter stating your prints are not valid." She sounds like she is reading a teleprompter or a very well rehearsed paragraph from a finger scan instruction manuel. "After the first rejection notice you will be notified to come in and take your prints again. They will then send you a second rejection notice..."

"Whoaaa Nelly, wait a minute." I interject.... "You mean I'm going to get rejected TWICE?"

"Well yes." She explains. "They have to make sure it's not my error so you will be requested to scan again. After your second rejection, cause I've never made a mistake, I can tell you, you WILL get a second rejection... Well after the second rejection they will reschedule you within 6 months to be examined by a specialist to determine another means of positively identifying you."

And I'm thinking...Like what the HELL ever happened to identifying a person BY THEIR FREAKIN DRIVERS LICENSE & PHOTO!!!!

"Oh but don't worry," she adds "They can't by law deny your license, but it might take up to 6 months to get it validated another way."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm outta here. I've got a test to study for on Monday" And off I go, my defective fingerprints in hand...

So now, I await confirmation from the FBI that my fingerprints are 'not valid', even though I know for sure that they are mine and that I have never traded them with anyone. WTF?!?

What's this world coming to?? Why aren't you F'in beaurocrats out arresting REAL CRIMINALS instead of harrassing hard working American citizens on account of our fingerprints not being up to snuff?? WTF??