I work in Social Housing. Every year, the rent rises following the rules set by the government. There is an obligated part (the inflation) and a “free” part (which is limited). This year, the CEO of our company decides that we will only do the obligated part for those with the lowest incomes, and those who have an income too high for social housing will get a raise lower than the allowed maximum. If your information with us is outdated, you can appeal the raise and we will recalculate it with the latest information.
Woman: “I sent in an appeal for my raise; it’s outrageous that I’m getting such a big raise!”
Me: “I understand that a raise is never welcome. I see that your appeal has been received and will be dealt with in the coming days. I—”
Woman: “Well, I think you are a bunch of crooks! And why did you need my personal information? That’s private!”
Me: “The government told us your income was in scale B. We never get details, just what scale people are in. If this information is outdated, we can recalculate it for you, but we do need the correct information, then. We—”
Woman: “I’m telling you it’s wrong! Why do I need to go through the hassle of proving it? “
Note: it’s three income slips and a registration of how many people are registered at your house, which you can download or get at City Hall.
Me: “I understand, but we’re not getting that information from the government or City Hall automatically. Only you have that information or can get it at City Hall. You—”
Woman: “And when I first sent it in, you rejected it because my social security number was on it! What kind of bull is that?!”
Me: “Because, by law, we are not allowed to have your social security number in our system. We are not allowed to see it.”
Woman: “Other companies take it!”
Me: “I cannot talk for other companies. I can only talk about this company, and we are not allowed to see it.”
Woman: “Well then, you should have put that in the letter!”
She’s referring to the one that announced the raise.
Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it was in the letter.”
Woman: “No, it was not!”
Me: “Really? I read the letter myself. Let me look it up for you.”
Woman: “It was not in there!”
Me: “I’m reading it now — one moment.”
Woman: “Well, do that on your own time. I have better things to do. My cat wants some attention.”
Yes, she actually said that.
Me: “Here it is: page six. It’s at the header, ‘Mind your SSN’.”
Woman: “Well, that’s not clear at all! No wonder people misunderstand that!”
Me: “It’s a paragraph of about five lines, and it says you must remove your SSN. I’m sorry you—”
Woman: “Well, it’s crap, anyway. Why did you need my personal information, anyway? That’s privacy! I don’t care if you have my SSN; that’s not important, anyway! My privacy is more important!”
She went off on another tirade about how evil the CEO was and kept interrupting me over and over. Eventually, I just gave up on her and told her she’d be contacted. If I told her you can steal someone’s identity with an SSN, she wouldn’t have believed me, anyway. She ended the conversation with a comment about how this all took too long and now her dinner was burned. (It was just after lunchtime.)
