I think it sounds more like a religious issue. I worked with a preacher who would not use automatic pay deposit as he was sure that in the end-times it would be one more way of tracking him. Something about Revelation and The Beast giving everyone a number. Or some such weird shit.
Religious nuts are fun to work with, but it’s the paranoid religious nuts that give the best material.
I think you are being to hard on her. Maybe she just has a really, really UGLY social security number that she is ashamed to show anybody. She has probably been teased about it so much in her life already that she knows she will break down if she has to go through the humiliation again.
Ah, one of those ones that spell out “boobless” or “asshole” when you turn it upside down?
I wonder if she knows it’s somewhere, lurking, in pi…
Una, I love you.
Heh. Not surprising. I work for a financial institution, and, like MissTake, I take calls about people’s accounts. If a person doesn’t have an account number, we ask for a SSN, since it’s the fastest way for us to look up accounts across multiple systems. Sometimes, we’ll get someone who refuses to give it out.
Now, once I finish pulling up their account–which is going to take longer, because I’m going to have to go into several different systems and type in their name–I am going to be able to see their social security number. And their birthdate, address, account balance, and–in some cases–bank account information.
Really, if I had a dishonest or malicious bone in my body, it wouldn’t matter if you gave me your SSN; I don’t, so I’m going to forget the information about five seconds after I type it in. But, hey, if they want to wait the extra 2-3 minutes as I check all of our systems, they can wait. I just think they’re silly.
This reminds me of the people who refuse to use a credit card online, even for a reputable website like Amazon. 128-bit encryption is much safer than giving your card to someone, especially when it spends some time out of your sight, such as when you give it to a waiter. They don’t want to hear it, of course.