From Ming to Tracy (3)

This sweet little design is from Ming. Her copperplate is lovely.

 

The Certificate Story - Chapter 3

Details and digression. The story needs some details about the certificate. The who, where, when, and most of all WHY?

Who the heck wants a big stupid certificate thanking them for being the president of a state level  organization? I don't want to talk about what kind of organization is still presenting a certificate to a past president. Part of me wants to find out where they are having their ceremony to present the certificate and get a job as a bus boy and walk around filling water glasses during the meeting where they present the certificate. I really don't want to talk unkindly about them -- but, I can't imagine anyone really wants this big stupid certificate. They probably stuff it in a closet. I can't imagine anyone hangs it on a wall. Although many of them live in small towns - so maybe archaic framed certificates fit right in. Maybe *quaint* is their thing. That's fine with me.

IMHO - it is time for this organization to come up with something different. But, there is no way for me to actually talk to them. Actual members do not actually deal with this certificate themselves - and for all these years, it has been some kind of secretarial administrative assistant person who handles the process of getting the certificate and then taking it to the framer - and I imagine the frame is about $300. 

The scheduling is interesting, too. There are members of the organization all over the state - and the officers meet in DSM in mid May. While officers are in town, they sign the certificate so that it can be framed and presented in September. So - it's never a rush job - although it's a hard deadline to get the signatures at that mid May meeting. Yes, I know we could mail it to people to sign - but there was that one time when that one certificate ended up punctured and soggy - and had to be reproduced - so - we don't want to try that again.*

I am going to suggest that they send the signatures to be scanned and dropped in -- or maybe I won't. I once had another certificate job - where in a time crunch - they just had me replicate a signature - which was fun.

I knew I was going to be out of town from April 13-29 - but that left 2 weeks to make sure the new certificate was fine prior to the May 12 meeting. What could possibly go wrong?

* and it would have been a UPS employee who went *postal* on the certificate. It was not a USPS employee.