Another question for Americans
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
I don't believe that you guys all know your social security numbers by heart. You should all PM them to me to prove it.
^ Hehehe.
Unfortunately, yes.
To answer the original question, yes, I can rattle off my SSN like that. And my Medicare number, because it's just my SSN with an added letter. And my checking account number.
The one that surprised me the other day: I watched someone enter her 14-digit library card number into a computer from memory. Fourteen digits plus a separate 4-digit pin. I guess she uses the computers at the library a lot.
Unfortunately, yes.
To answer the original question, yes, I can rattle off my SSN like that. And my Medicare number, because it's just my SSN with an added letter. And my checking account number.
The one that surprised me the other day: I watched someone enter her 14-digit library card number into a computer from memory. Fourteen digits plus a separate 4-digit pin. I guess she uses the computers at the library a lot.
Would you like bank account information and a passport photocopy with that?
I've known it by heart since mid-High School-ish, iirc. Basically, I got tired of calling my mom to ask her what it was (she apparently had all our SSNs memorized at one point) so I just learned it myself. I've known it ever since. It's three groups of two or three numbers, which makes it easier to remember (but, even if it weren't, eight digits is less than a phone number with area code).
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Amaris
Guest
I used to know my library card number by heart, but then I got a Kindle. Now I can only remember the first few digits.
867-5309
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Amaris
Guest
1-800-MIX-A-LOT
SSNs are 9-digits in a 3-2-4 format.
In Canada, we have a Social Insurance Number (SIN), which is 9 digits in 3-3-3 format.
And yes, I know mine by heart, although I rarely need to use it for anything.
And yes, I know mine by heart, although I rarely need to use it for anything.
I know my SSN by heart. We didn't get them at birth when I was a kid. I got mine when I was a teenager for some specific reason-- FID card or license or something.
I can also rattle off every telephone number I've ever had in my life-- except my current one.
I also know my license plate number. Easy, since I've had the same one since 1981. Actually, I've had the very same plate since 1981.
I don't know any of my credit card numbers by heart. I think I know my bank account number, since I used to have to write it on the back of my paycheck every week before direct deposit; but I'd have to check to see if I remember it correctly at this point.
What else is there? I do know my address.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owpX2UPYRKQ[/yt]
I can also rattle off every telephone number I've ever had in my life-- except my current one.
I also know my license plate number. Easy, since I've had the same one since 1981. Actually, I've had the very same plate since 1981.
I don't know any of my credit card numbers by heart. I think I know my bank account number, since I used to have to write it on the back of my paycheck every week before direct deposit; but I'd have to check to see if I remember it correctly at this point.
What else is there? I do know my address.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owpX2UPYRKQ[/yt]
That's my ex-wife.
Yeah, I wasn't thinking when I said that.
I always do that.
Sort-of, yes, but what I've always been told is that it's a number that only you and your employer need access too, beyond that really the only other thing you need to maybe use it for is credit cards. I've never used it for anything else.
Like most everyone else here I know mine by heart, and since the program was started everyone is assigned one shortly after birth, once the parents provide the government with information of your birth. But I suspect there's a bit of fudging there.
It's only nine-numbers and I've had to use it for a number of things central to work and getting account information from my bank.
When you get the number you're issued a card but it's something you're not supposed to carry around with your (like in a purse or wallet) since things can easily be lost or stolen. My is with my other paperwork like my diploma, car title, etc.
Some states use it for a driver's license ID number but I use a system-generated one for reasons similar to the one that say you shouldn't carry the card with you.
So, I'd say it's not too unusual for one to know their social-security number by heart and off the top of their head. Considering the phone-numbers, birthdates, other dates, passwords, pricing/ordering information for work, mathematical formulas, license plate number, and useless Star Trek number-related information I know, remembeing a string of 9-numbers that actually mean something to me isn't too much more of a big deal.
Hell, I know my credit-card numbers by heart; which really should say something or another about me.
I can believe it back in the dark ages of dial-up internet
.I knew my 16 digit password to connect to the internet. Try remembering a 16 digital non-sequential alpha-numeric password.
That didn't happen until around 1986 with a tax reform act. At that point, the Internal Revenue Service required SSN's for dependents claimed over the age of 5. Since then, parents have been able to apply for an SSN on the child's birth certificate.
The Social Security program was initially to provide money to retired workers, but the number has since become a de facto federal identity number.
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