Anyone with experience can tell you that notarization is a tricky job. You have to juggle state laws, ethical guidelines and customer demands in a dual role as a public official and private individual. And it’s easy to make mistakes — even for one of TV’s smartest Notary characters, Sheldon Cooper of the comedy “The Big Bang Theory.”
Now, just to clarify: There are a lot of “Big Bang Theory” fans here at the NNA, and Sheldon — the eccentric, irascible Caltech physicist and part-time Notary played by Jim Parsons — is one of our favorite characters.
With his eidetic memory and I.Q. of 187, Sheldon prides himself on always being right, whether it’s discussing the intricacies of string theory or quoting “Star Trek” episodes verbatim. However, we’ve noticed he’s made a few mistakes when notarizing. We decided to take a look at Sheldon’s work as a Notary on “The Big Bang Theory” and see how he fared. Here’s what we found:
The Good: Sheldon, the prepared Notary
Sheldon seems well-prepared when it comes to his Notary tools. In the episode “The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition,” while preparing to notarize a document, he has his stamp, his journal of notarial acts and an ink pad for fingerprinting the signer ready. As a California Notary, it’s good to see Sheldon knows he’s required keep a journal of his acts.
The Bad: Even Sheldon makes mistakes
Unfortunately, Sheldon also makes a major mistake in the same episode. He’s notarizing girlfriend Amy’s signature on a document in which he also is named — a clear conflict of interest!
Sheldon also makes an ethical error in the episode “The Wiggly Finger Catalyst” when he lets slip that he knows how wealthy his friend Raj is because he’s notarized financial documents for him. Protecting a signer’s privacy is an important part of a Notary’s duties — even when talking among friends.
We’re sure Sheldon made these mistakes unintentionally, but as many of our readers can attest, even unintentional mistakes can get a Notary into hot water. We hope he doesn’t make any other errors on the show that will result in state Notary officials finding out and calling “Bazinga!” on him.
Sheldon’s pretty good at surfing the Internet, so maybe he can pick up information on California Notary practices at the Secretary of State’s office or download and read a copy of The Notary Public Code of Professional Responsibility.
David Thun is the Assistant Managing Editor with the National Notary Association.