id/credit cards

ponderings / north america / id/credit cards

oddly in shops (sorry stores) here people couldn't care less about your signature. in fact usually they'll hand your card back to you before you even sign anything. BUT they do often want to check your id when you use a credit card. oh joy of joys. id can sometimes mean that only a California drivers license will do. ie. they won't even LOOK at your passport or drivers licence (note 'drivers licence' rather than 'driving licence' - weird). fortunately most people don't care and will look confused at your id and then blanky hand it back - content that if you were trying to pull a fast one then you'd probably make an effort to make it look vaguely correct. the fact that i once handed an id with my maiden name on it by mistake and the shop assistant didn't even blink is an illustration.
kenny did have a point when i was 'discussing' these problems with him.. staff are sometimes given very intense training about what to look for in forged drivers licences or US passports but do not know where to begin looking on the foreign versions.
..naturally to try and actually obtain californian id without a social security number would be quite an achievement

of course for me, should i ever manage to get the chance to go for a drink (of an alcoholic nature - of which there are not nearly enough occassions), i always need to show my id [sascha asked the other day at which point i thought that might become a good thing. we think maybe 30 might be the time]. oh the joys of discussing my driver's licence and date issues then.

at a bank once, they suspended our accounts and called the manager over because they were convinced my passport was forged due to a major date confusion.