[Insert picture of frowny-faced Little Critter here]

Nov 28, 2009 23:59

I am SO MAD.

Went to price out a new laptop @ the local Best Buy tonight. Noticed they have a twelve-month no interest payment plan. Since I'd already fallen hopelessly in love with a pale-pink Sony VAIO 15-inch, why not?

Trotted over to the customer service desk to apply for the financing. "Sure... I'll need your driver's license, please?" "Oh, I don't have one. But here's my Ontario Health Card. Also issued by the government, and you'll notice my picture there as well...?"

"Nope, sorry, we can't take that."

I stared at him. He appeared to be patiently waiting for whatever was coming next. "You don't take government-issued picture ID?! What do you do if someone doesn't have a driver's license?"

"Well, we do take a passport..." Pause, motivated no doubt by my despairing headshake. "OK, how about your citizenship card?"

I stared some more. Out of my bright blue eyes, in my pink-and-white face. And said in my prominent Southern Ontario accent, "Uh... trust me, I was born here."

He seemed to understand, albeit not to the extent of giving me a break. Ditto the nice girl at the bank hotline # he eventually had me call.

The upshot of it is, I left laptop-less. Still completely and totally bewildered as to why a government card (for which I was required to provide proof of residence by really humourless civil servants, after standing in line most of an afternoon) should be considered less than definitive proof of my existence.

All anybody could say -- even to "So, you're about to risk losing a $1000-plus sale over the wrong type of ID card?" -- was "Well... yes, it's policy."

I still do not plan on ever shoplifting. But I do believe I've gained a weensy bit of insight into potential motivation.

shopping, tech

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