Signature vs. scribbles
When you sign something do you sign your name or is it a scribble? I mean is it legible or something else? My H is a scribbler and I have always signed my name with every letter until he made fun of me for that and said I wrote like a kid (I hate using cursive and only do it when signing something). I've always written out my first name in cursive and then my last name I did like H does. I have his last name.
About a week ago he complained and said "why do you write your first name but scribble your last - like you are ashamed of it". We've been married 7 years and he JUST now says something???
I never realized that is what he thought so I make a point now to write out my first and last names so it is legible but I think it's funny - he can scribble and I can't? Weirdo! Anyway, I was just curious how you and your SO sign stuff?
Re: Signature vs. scribbles
Hubs signs in cursive, but you can read it all. He also signs his entire name: First M. Last
I sign in cursive, and I think it's legible. Deifinitely not a scribble. I do just sign my first initial, then my full last name (and it's all connected). The only time I write out my first name (and middle initial) is if it's on an official document. On checks, I still use the "first initial, last name" thing.
Working at a bank has made me wish everyone would actually sign their name. Seriously, forgeries would be so much harder to do if half of the population didn't use a scribble for their names.
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My first name is completely legible, my last name is kind of a scribble. I have a "z" in my last name, and for the life of me, no matter how hard I try or how much I practice, I am physically unable to write a cursive z. So I had to improvise. DH made a comment about it a while ago, and then I pointed out that he does the same thing with his last name, and it's been his name for his whole life.
My signature of my maiden name was all in cursive and completely legible.
The bank does, that's who.
I compare signatures multiple times a week, since I'm a floater and I don't know most of these customers personally.
I've dealt with 6 cases of forged signatures in my career. 5 of them, the person whose signature was forged only did a scribble. Generally you could read the first letter of their first and last names, and the rest of each name was a squiggly line. Super freaking easy to duplicate. Those 5 customers very nearly had to take the loss, since the signatures were pretty much identical. Had they actually written out their signature (like the 6th person), with real letters, it would have been much easier to dispute.
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This made me laugh because MDs are notorious for their bad handwriting!!!
My dad is a doctor and happens to have amazingly perfect handwriting, and when we traveled overseas one summer, he was stopped and questioned pretty heavily at customs because they didn't believe he was really a doctor given how nice his handwriting is!
This is exactly why I make my signature very clear and it's harder to forge. When I was a kid my sister and I would be able to forge our dad's name on stuff because his was scribble but our mom's is so freaking neat it's impossible to forge. DH scribbles and has had his info stole 3 times because everything is so easy to copy. He complained the 2nd time because "he signed the back of his card". I pointed out that he scribbled some markings on the back of the card so it was easy to copy.
My Colton...Growing up so fast!
And Coralee, his baby sister...On the way!
In banking, we're taught to look for irregularities in signatures. Usually, the people whose signatures look likes scribbles have less consistency than the ones with actual letters.
For example, if I'm looking at 10 documents with the same person's scribble signature on them, chances are 7 of them will be different enough that you could claim forgery. (especially when that person has signed them all at different times, in varying degrees of hurry)
People who actually write letters, however, have more points of consistency that I can compare. The swoop of a "w", or the tail of a "y", mix of cursive and printed letters... things like that are comparable, and it's hard to duplicate it well enough to fool someone. (unless you're a pro forger... but seriously, if you're a professional, you're not going to be forging anything that I'm seeing)
Don't get me wrong, nobody ever signs their name the exact same way twice. It's just, in my experience, easier to duplicate a scribble than a name that's actually spelled out.
ETA: I will concede that there are some signatures that are scribbled that would be hard to forge. Usually though, those signatures have more "character" to them than just the "initial and squiggle line" signatures. They might not be perfectly formed letters (mine isn't!), but they are at least an attempt to form letters. I hope that part of this makes sense. It's so hard to explain without being able to show you!
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Lancy - I find this really interesting! Thank you for sharing! Who would have thunk it.
You're welcome!
In my previous job I was a trainer, and old habits die hard!
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