To continue some work with the school district I had to go through a process of fingerprinting and background check… standard process when working with kiddos. While having my fingerprints taken it became clear that the machine did NOT like my “ridges” and required 5-6 attempts (PER FINGER) to capture the minimum required image for fingerprint analysis. Fortunately for me, the person in charge of fingerprinting knows me [happens to be a neighbor] and she felt compelled to point out that although this is rare, it’s not unheard of… and it would actually be really good for me if I felt the need to take up a life of crime 😉 Needless to say, the entire process took a LOT longer than a standard fingerprinting experience! She told me that if I ever had to get a secret clearance, it would be a serious issue because the FBI, etc is finicky about people without fingerprints. These would be adequate for the school district but NOT the FBI 😉
[NOTE: I have not researched this but according to my neighbor, the sheriff deputy, apparently there is a known thing about not having fingerprints and other symptoms include lack of sweating (or minimal), dry skin, brittle nails & hair… and I have all those other symptoms…. She also said some cancer treatments can cause fingerprints to deteriorate. The things you learn in “jail.” 😉 hmmm, may have to research that more and see where it leads me…. maybe crime does pay ;-)]
[NOTE: After thinking about this more, I realize now that I have never been able to successfully use “fingerprint readers” (i.e. laptops w/ biometric readers, buildings with fingerprint scanners, etc). Those “touch” displays don’t recognize me either but that’s probably because my hands are cold… or I have no electric current 😉 go ahead, I hear ya! ]