No Cell Phones, Please

The fingerprinting centers have a no cell phone policy and today we just about witnessed an all out brawl because of it. A gentleman and his wife were reporting for their fingerprinting appointment and had taken public transit to the center. When the security guard informed them cell phones are not allowed inside the gentleman said ok and asked where he could check it while he got his fingerprints taken. The security guard informed him that the center does not provide a holding area for cell phones and that he would have to wait outside. Huh? How can you not allow a device and then not provide an option for storing it? Anyhow, the gentleman was not so gentile and gave the guard a really hard time. In the end his wife got her fingerprints taken first while he waited outside and then they traded places so everything eventually worked out. I don't understand giving the security guard a hard time over the matter though, it's not like they write the policies - they just enforce them. Those of you who haven't been fingerprinted yet beware: Leave your cell phones at home or in the car!

The fingerprinting machines that the Department of Homeland Security uses for USCIS approvals are so cool. They digitally scan your prints and feed them directly into their massive database and spit out a score for each one. My right hand ring finger received the highest score of my ten digits, a 75, but Mike's left hand thumb trumped me with an 80. Can't win'em all. This part of the process does win the speedy aware though - we were in and out of the building in 20 minutes! It was officially the last thing on our to-do list for the dossier, nothing to do now until the I-171H arrives.