somewhat OT but too awesome not to share with someone

[celyste.livejournal.com]

Today I was absolutely blown away.

I've worked billing for the company before, so I know how much fuss customers can make about properly verifying the account: don't know the number, won't give it over the phone, used it to set their computer on fire. So I always cringe in tech support when I need to verify the account for passwords or whatever.

But this lady was awesome! She couldn't get me the first verifier without opening a bill she'd already stamped to be mailed to pay with. And instead of a complaint or a request to verify something else, I heard "I'm sorry... I need something sharp to open this with... it won't take me a minute to find some scissors, do you mind waiting? I'm so glad that you make sure that I should be getting the information about the account and that you won't give it out to just anyone!"

I fell off my chair. I wanted to hug her. I couldn't over the phone, so I think she'll see a 5$ credit on her next bill. We really don't reward nice honest people often enough.

Comments

[tadiera.livejournal.com]

That is cool!
I've had people complain at me because they think 'I'm calling you, aren't I!?'

It's like, 'Sir, anyone could have found your home phone number and called us, claiming to be you. And if you have children, you wouldn't want one of them trying to gain the primary account's password, would you?'

Oog. But that woman was good. :)

[jjjiii]

I think some of the fuss comes out of the information companies choose to "verify" people's Identity, as though this isn't easily obtainable and spoofable.

Social security number? Not a state secret. Anyone can find out what that is. And it's not supposed to be used for ANYTHING except for the administration of social security. It is not supposed to be a de facto ID system.

Mother's maiden name? Obscure, but not that hard to find out. Dig through public records and you can find out where someone was born, who the parents were, and through marriage licenses, what the mother's maiden name is. More work than someone would casually want to go through, but if I really wanted to steal your ID for some grand purpose, it's doable.

Becoming identified is somewhat akin to allowing someone to lock missiles on you. If you're anonymous, you might be able to "get away" with saying something or doing whatever, but if people know who you are, whether what you've done is right or wrong, it doesn't matter -- all you know is if someone powerful disapproves of you, they can use your ID to track you down and get you.

Yeah, I'm paranoid. I dabble in security, of course I'm paranoid:)

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

That's so good :D Are you able to credit her like that? It so needs to say "Being nice to us" as the reason :P