The Magic Number

Having been here for just over a week, i've naturally had to endure the joys of visiting the Social Security office. The American ones aren't too bad - they're nicely carpeted and very orderly places where mobile phones have to be switched off and a friendly security man sits in the corner (you know the kind, those that look like they'd be of no use whatsoever if actually called into action). Anyway, you take your ticket, sit down and wait your turn. If the British invented queuing, the Americans certainly streamlined it. Not that it actually moves any faster. Fortunately, lots of people over here can't be bothered waiting and so leave - meaning that the ticket numbers go jumping ahead when you least expect it. Suffice to say, after two trips to the office i'm in the system wheter i like it or not (the first, i waited two hours only for them to tell me that they couldn't actually do anything for me because one of my forms didn't activate until July 1st).

And now i have to wait. They tell me it should be a week or so before i get a letter telling me that my details are all correct and i'm in the system. Then about a week till i get the piece of card (unlaminated, i should add - cheapskates) with the number on. Which is great. The only downside to all this is that i'm living in a country where the government recognises my existence (hell, it let me in here) but a large part of the major corporations don't. In most cases you can get by this by showing your passport, waving a bit of paper that the Social give you saying that you're in the process of getting it and that's fine. In some cases (like electricity), i had to pay a deposit that I will ultimately get back. So that's fine. Except we come to the phone company. Who only deal with you over the phone and also require a deposit (because i have no credit history here) but can't do squat until they get your social security number. A number that, many years ago (i'm told on good authority), you were told not to give to anyone at all - because this was your identity. Apparently, the US are only just realising what a silly system it is to have this number responsible for everything - cause it's now so embedded in every system that anyone who gets hold of it could easily walk away with your identity after hacking through multiple layers of some of the most secure computer systems in the world. Hey, if anyone wants mine after doing that, they're welcome to it!