People and their social security numbers.

[S4toSTI]

About 5 minutes ago I had a woman into my store who expressed interest in getting a phone. She told me that she was sick of prepaid and thought it would be good for her grandchildren and children to be able to get a hold of her if they needed to. This women was 60 something years old I forget her birth date even though I looked at her id, she was also with her granddaughter. I talked to her about a plan and showed her a phone which i was going to give to her at no cost. She told me to be straight with her about the plan and all of the charges which I was. After deciding she wanted to go threw with it I sat back down at my computer and asked for her id. She gave it to me and I made a copy of it. I handed her back her id began entering her information. I had a feeling she was going to be a tricky one when I asked her to give me her SSN so I left that till the end. When I asked her for it she asked me why I needed it and proceeded to tell me that number is your life and if anyone had it they could do a lot of bad things with it. I told her that I understand where she is coming from and that I have had to give my social on many occasions not very willingly. She understood where i was coming from but told me even though it wasn't my policy that it was poor one and she didn't understand why she need to give it. I went into more detail with her about her running up a bill on the phone and T-mobile need to be able to know that she could pay for it. In a very polite way i told her that there was no other way for her to get a monthly phone if she wasn't willing to give me her social. I even offered for her to type it into my computer herself and press enter so i would never see it. Long long story short she left without the phone and in the nicest way told me that she was sorry but she wasn't willing to give up her SSN.

This is what i don't get. When she bought a car did she give her SSN, YES. When she bought a house did she give her SSN, YES. Moral of the story when I am selling you a phone that could possibly run up a bill to well over what your car costs in one month, why is it so ridiculous for the company to have your SSN? I am not pissed that she didn’t get the phone it just amazes me that some people are so protective of a number that Marc could get in like 20 minutes.

[igo4bmx]

it's cuz you're intimidating.

[Mr Tomtastic]

my dad is the same way. he makes a huge fuss about it and dramatizes things that could happen and all that jazz. Hes 65, so i guess its an old people thing...

[awdlaserbeam]

If you told her you needed it to run a credit check she might have understood a little better, since she was buying something on credit.
Btw, alot of people are cautious who sees their SSN, maybe she was involved in a scam before...

[SpendOne]

Well, I used to be a rep for Nextel. What I would do is pretty much ask them for the SSN, let them watch me type it in, make a copy of it, cross out all but the last 4 digits in front of them.

[S4toSTI]

I offered her all of these things and she didn't understand. 75 percent of the time i can convince these people but sometimes they are just stuborn bastards.

[xEJ20x]

I work at a small pet supply store.
And it is a required store policy that the customer give their phone number when they return something.
Nothing really too serious, right. Now many people give their number without second thought. However, there are that small few who refuse. You wouldn't believe how these few people react to that. Saying we are selling the numbers to solicitors or using them for "something else". Which none of my customers can say what that something else is.

So anymore if the customer refuses to give the number, I refuse the refund.

[S4toSTI]

I do the same thing. When we have a credit card that has no signature or a signature that is not legible or heck i do it with every customer i ask for their id. I have had a few people who denied to show me their id, i say have a nice day i am not selling u anything then.

[Raven18940]

Originally Posted by xEJ20x

I work at a small pet supply store.
And it is a required store policy that the customer give their phone number when they return something.
Nothing really too serious, right. Now many people give their number without second thought. However, there are that small few who refuse. You wouldn't believe how these few people react to that. Saying we are selling the numbers to solicitors or using them for "something else". Which none of my customers can say what that something else is.

So anymore if the customer refuses to give the number, I refuse the refund.

Same thing happened to me when I worked at genuardis. It's store policy that if you pay for something with a check you have to have a phone number on it where you can be reached. Late one evening a lady comes through a decides to pay with a check. Fine, very normal, lots of people do it. Oops, she forgot her phone, ask nicely that I need a phone number. She says it's an unlisted number and that I can't have it. I respond that it's store policy to have a phone number on every check. She says again very sternly that I can't have it and says I'm not allowed to ask her for it. I inform her that she is mistaken and that I can ask her for any information I need. She says I should get the manager. I yell across the check lanes to my supervisor if I can accept a check without a phone number, she yells back no and states the same company policy I already did. She continues to argue until my manager suggests she puts a work number down. Finally she agrees, very pissed at me and my supervisor.

I never back down to stupid customers. :D

Originally Posted by S4toSTI

I do the same thing. When we have a credit card that has no signature or a signature that is not legible or heck i do it with every customer i ask for their id. I have had a few people who denied to show me their id, i say have a nice day i am not selling u anything then.

I'm considering writing "check ID" on the back of all my cards. I don't care and it'll just be that little extra protection if it gets stolen.

[awdlaserbeam]

Originally Posted by Raven18940

I'm considering writing "check ID" on the back of all my cards. I don't care and it'll just be that little extra protection if it gets stolen.

Thats what i do with all my cards. I write *SEE ID* with astricks, multi colored and as disgusting as i possibly can so they are sure to see it and ask for ID.

[2point4DSM]

When people ask for my phone number at stores I usually give them 555-1212.

[S4toSTI]

Originally Posted by 2point4DSM

When people ask for my phone number at stores I usually give them 555-1212.

Lol thats the kinda stuff i do at the car dealership. I tell people to give me fake phone numbers that i don't care.

[iRaTruPlaya]

thats just downright dumb if you ask me.. but i think it has to do with old people.. they are so set in their ways..... my grandmom thought the goverment was trying to make the us into a dictaitorship through the news

[Intercooled T]

Shoulda just told her that anyone can get it if they WANT to...

[SilverTurboRidin]

i am a dictatorship...

But yeah i deal with people like that everyday who dont feel comfortable giving me their S.S. #...i told them its only for verification purposes...

[joe tom]

Originally Posted by awdlaserbeam

Thats what i do with all my cards. I write *SEE ID* with astricks, multi colored and as disgusting as i possibly can so they are sure to see it and ask for ID.

i have that on all my cards, and it is amazing, the amount of cashiers/clerks, that obviously see "see id" swipe the card, and hand it back, without ever asking for id. too many people just don't care.

[smoger]

old people believe everything they hear on tv.

the news does these stories about how dangerous things are.. these people hear "identity theft" and they think it happens from legitimate businesses, which in most cases is not true.

[S4toSTI]

Originally Posted by smoger

old people believe everything they hear on tv.

the news does these stories about how dangerous things are.. these people hear "identity theft" and they think it happens from legitimate businesses, which in most cases is not true.

Its the truth you never have young people being like no. I can get someone under 30 to yell it from the roof tops if i asked them. Some people in my store yell it across the room. What was different about her is she was like trying to teach me a lesson not to give out mine. She should go to a college campus everything there is ssn. or heck the army is the same thing. If someone really wanted your ssn they would have it already. I actually have been meaning to get a block on my so if someone runs my credit for anything the credit burea calls a phone number i specify meaning they would have to have my cell phone too in order to do anything.

[alachua]

Ugh. I know all to well the pain of indignant people. I personally like the people who don't understand why they need a SSN for a credit application. At first I kindly reply that the only way to accurately pull a credit report is with the persons SSN, on the rare occasion they persist to decline I usually get moderatly condecending. "you have applied for credit before, correct...so you have, at least once, given your SSN in order to recieve a line of credit. Why would this be any different?"

I also enjoy the people who don't understand why we need their monthly income to give them a credit card. "you are essentially asking us to give you something, under the pretence that you will, eventually, pay us for it. If we don't know how much, if any, money you make, we really can't gauge the likelyhood of you paying us back."

As for the phone number thing...another sigh. I have gone as far as to show people the national do not call registry. I explain that the primary reason we use them, is that in the event they don't have a recipt, we will be able to process a return, or enter a product for repair under warranty. The people who get witty and give a generic number used to get the 'cliff specialty' number. this number, when enetered into the system would bring up the name 'Ana S Shole'. Noone ever caugt on to the top of the recipt saying "Sold To: ANA S SHOLE"

Just a note, if you do write "SEE ID" on the back of your card, also sign next to that. Without a signature to match to, anyone can use a fake ID (think old style NJ ID's) with your name, their pic, and their sig. This will lead to the sigs matching. Also, technically, unless your name is 'See ID', your card is invalid according to the Terms and Conditions of your card member agreement, which require a valid signiture of the authorised user in order for the card to be considered valid.

-Cliff