Totally OT: SSNs

I am fuming over a run in I just had with a local medical laboratory. I went in to have a routine blood test to see how my over-the-hill thyroid isn't doing, dammit, when the intake clerk asked for my social security number. Told him I didn't give it out. He said they couldn't do the blood test without it. Told him he can't require my SSN unless he's a lending institution or my bank (which the IRS requires to report interest). Still refuses to do the blood test. I threw a blue fit (in a ladylike manner, of course) and told him that what they were requiring was illegal. Stormed out of there and later got a "we're-so-sorry-please-come-back" telephone call when they evidently consulted with TPTB and learned I was right.

People: do NOT give out your social security number to *anyone* unless they are a lending institution (credit card application, for instance) or your bank (see the above proviso). Your doctor, your dentist, your emergency room...they are not legally allowed to force you to provide your SSN before providing services. You want to avoid identity theft? You think the 20 year old nimrod in your dentist's office can't stick postits in her handpag with your SSN and other particulars?

lowest of the low in identity theft.

Cautiously, Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA

"If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret had been as old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had been as full as the waitress's, it would have been a very good dinner."

-- Duncan Hines

To reply, replace "spaminator" with "cox"