Picking a Fight – Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

Let's try this again, almost done and I lost the whole thing. n nI swear My Darling Wife just loves to pick a fight sometimes. School hasn't even started yet and she is fighting with them. It could get interesting. n nThe High School mailed out the enrollment forms a couple of weeks ago and My Darling Wife was reviewing them and got upset when the asked for our daughters Social Security Number (SSN). We make a habit of not handing out our SSN around here so she wasn't going to put it on the form but decided to call the school and find out why they needed it. When she got a hold of the appropriate person at school she asked her just that, "why do you need my kids SSN on the enrollment form?" The gal on the other end responded that the State Office of Public Instruction (OPI) required it and that we "had to give the number to her." My Darling Wife politely informed her that by law the SSN can not be used for routine identification and that the first step in identity theft is getting somebodies SSN. Because of this the Government and security experts tell you never to give your SSN out unless necessary so why is this necessary. The women told her again, "The OPI requires it and you have to give it to us." My Wife asked for the law or document number or any kind of reference to this requirement so she could check out what statue provides for the demanding of the SSN by the state. The women said "It is not my job to give you that kind of information" and hung up on My Wife. n nMy Wife was a little upset at this point and decided to get a hold of the OPI and ask them why they needed the SSN and what law provided for this information to be gathered. Come to find out, the OPI does not require the SSN at all. Armed with this information she got a hold of the school again a few days later and asked the same question about the SSN. She got the same response, "the OPI demands it." She then unleashed upon the women and informed her the OPI does not require a students SSN and that she had the documentation to prove it. The women, in all of her bureaucratic inertia, insisted that her OPI tech, whatever that is, says they need the SSN and that "you have to give it to us!!!! My Wife informed her that the State didn't require it and she wasn't providing it. The women then informed her that they would call the student to the office on a daily basis, if not two or three times a day, and demand that the student provide them the number. My Wife said that our child does not know her SSN and they can demand all they want, she won't give it to them. The women said you wait and see, we will get it out of her. My Wife informed her that she would be contacting the appropriate authorities regarding the threat she just made on our daughters life and that her attitude was unnecessary. The women then informed her that the principal would have to get involved. My Darling Wife laughed at her and told her, "I might have been afraid of the Principal when I was in school myself, but now I am an adult and he is just a person like anyone else and he doesn't scare me one bit, bring him on." At this point the women was on the verge of tears just repeating the mantra that we had to give it to them. My Wife finally asked if their was another option for this number if the parent would not give it. The women mentioned that we could put our child's Drivers License Number down. My Wife said okay, that's what I will do. The women said that they would be asking our daughter for her SSN and to expect it. She told the women to just try, after the threats she made, we were more than ready to take them on. n nHow this will all turn out remains to be seen. We take turns every year filling these forms out and last year I did them. I followed my normal practice of completely ignoring the SSN part and not filling it out. I do that on all the objectionable parts of the enrollment form every time I fill them out, leave parts blank. At the end I always state that the parts left blank are on purpose and that I fell they do not need the information they are requesting and if there is a problem to call me. I have never heard from them so I guess it was okay.You can either fight bureaucrats, like My Darling Wife is doing, or ignore them, like I do. It might be more fun to fight them, but it's better on your blood pressure to ignore them. I guess it is all personal choice. n nThe envied are like bureaucrats; the more impersonal they are, the greater the illusion (for themselves and for others) of their power. John Berger