Runester

So, in the middle of an important phone call, my stupid phone went dead. It’s a Blackberry Curve 8310 and I’ve had it for just over two (2) years. I’m pretty sure the battery is kaput. So, I decided to go and buy a new battery. I mean, I really wanted a new phone … like an iPhone 32GB 3G S … but those things cost a ton, even with a new two (2) year commitment.

I was going to be good, and just buy a replacement battery. Really.

First I got turned around in traffic, and it took me way too long to get to the nearest AT&T Store. I then waited for fifteen (15) minutes only to have them tell me they don’t stock those batteries … I could always try the Best Buy further down the street. OK, no problem. I’ll keep going.

At the best buy, there were three (3) guys behind the counter, two (2) of which were assiduously not looking at the line of customers piling up. One (1) was actively helping people. Funny how one guy can stare straight ahead and tap, tap, tap on a computer screen while NEVER looking up at the four (4) people waiting for assistance; and how the other guy can, apparently, be manually entering some paper form into some online form … one. painful. line. at. a. time. … while also never looking up at a the line of people waiting. But, the one guy who was helping people finished with his current customer and pleasantly turned towards me.

Guess what? They don’t stock the batteries either. He recommended I go to the AT&T Store! After I explained that they had sent me here … he just recommended, I either order a battery online and wait or go down to the Verizon store, further down the street. I wasn’t going to get mad at him … besides it not being his fault, he was the only sales rep actually trying to help customers and he was a charming young man, to boot.

So, down the street I went.

I didn’t have to wait at the Verizon Wireless store, the sales rep was ready to go. But, they don’t stock the batteries either. Oh, and have I checked out AT&T or Best Buy? It gets worse … the batteries are $59.99 plus shipping. WTF? You know what, I wasn’t that happy with the phone’s behavior recently anyways. It’s been picking up tons of static and interference when I make phone calls; and then there’s that “drop in the middle of a call and shutdown” – but that last one may have just been the damn battery. Which I can’t get.

Despite my best of intentions, I ended up buying a new phone.

I bought a Blackberry Tour, which is their 3G Blackberry – similar to AT&T’s Blackberry Bold. The price, with a two (2) year service contract and $100 mail-in-rebate was listed as $149. I’m trying to be rational here. A new battery for my old phone, which has been sounding like crap for the last two weeks, was going to be $60+ and here was a brand new, much faster phone with access to a much faster data network and it was only $90 more? Furthermore, unlike the mythical replacement battery, I could actually walk out of the store with this, working. So, I said yes.

I immediately began regretting it. I don’t like to spend big money … and to me that means anything more then $100. More then $200 and I get physically sick. I’m not kidding. I love my iPod … but I visibly blanched when I had to pay for it! This was almost as bad as that. The truth is, after looking at the bill, I had to actually pay $250 for the phone but state sales tax on all $500 of the phones retail value (at 6.25%, that’s another $30). Verizon will cover $250 of that $500, because I signed up for the two (2) year plan. In a week, when I’m sure I want to keep this phone and it’s proved useful and without any major Verizon-induced-tomfoolery, then I can mail in the UPC from the side of the box and wait five (5) weeks for my $100 rebate check to arrive.

So, I pay $280 TODAY … and eventually get $100 back … and did I mention that there was a $35 activation fee? Somehow that “$149″ doesn’t look as wonderful as it did when I was standing there.

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While my sales rep was entering my info and pulling a credit report, there was a woman standing next to me working with another rep. That rep was asking for the last four (4) digits of her Social Security Number (SSN) so that they could access her account. She specifically requested that they use some other number, not her SSN, as her account / access number. The two young people behind the counter, both looking to be in their early 20’s, were giving her a hard time and being pretty disrespectful. They insisted that her SSN was the only possible number they could use to look up and access her account. She insisted that they find a different number. Finally, she simply declared that she was going to pull her business from Verizon and find another provider – and there are plenty to choose from!

This whole conversation really angered me, especially when the clerks were snickering and attempting to bad mouth her, quietly, after she left. That was it, so I loudly declared that federal law prohibited private businesses from requiring SSN’s as account numbers. I grew a little heated, but they were smart enough not to argue with me.

For the record, I was not entirely correct. According to the Social Security Administration’s own website:

Giving your number is voluntary, even when you are asked for the number directly. If requested, you should ask why your number is needed, how your number will be used, what law requires you to give your number and what the consequences are if you refuse. The answers to these questions can help you decide if you want to give your Social Security number. The decision is yours.

So they are allowed to ask for it, and she is allowed to ask what they are going to do with it and she is allowed to refuse to give it to them. But, she has to live with the chance that she will be refused service; which is exactly what she did. Finally, and here’s the kicker, the young man of the pair didn’t understand why it was a big deal – everyone uses SSN’s … why did she complain? I pointed out that millions of identity records are stolen every month. It matters.

Do you know what really galls me? When SSN’s were first introduced and discussed, there was a very real fear that they would become a kind of “federal identity card” and could be used for tracking citizens movement around the country or tracking their buying and selling. Sounds paranoid, right? I mean, that would never happen … except that it is exactly what American’s were thinking about, shortly after WWII and the tight strictures placed on the German people by the Fascists. So, they were assured that SSN’s and the new Social Security Cards would not be used for that, they would only be used for tracking this new federal benefit. Yet, here we are, only a few generations later and your SSN is the key to nearly every account, service, line of credit, and transaction, public or private.

And, of course, they’re being stolen by the millions and traded and bought and sold and real people are really suffering.

So, next time someone asks you, casually, for your SSN … make a big deal out of it. Because it is a big deal.