PhoneDeath

My cell died. No rhyme or reason. The battery was operational and charged. The phone just refused to activate.

So, I trucked off to my provider's store at lunch and got a new one. I'm on a pay-as-you-go plan, so no special deals for this little monkey.

I got a cheapie phone. Extra power cord. Read the instructions and adjusted my settings after making sure the SIM card still has my old phone numbers.

I've avoided a plan 'cause I'm a paranoid and am not keen on giving my social security number to the wonks at cell companies. They're not super-secure and exposing the number unnecessarily seems ill-advised.

I asked if that asinine requirement was still in place in order to get a plan these days. The fellow who was capably handling phone issues explained politely that I have an alternate option: I can pay a deposit.

Yep. For $500 as a deposit, they'll enter a bogus social. After a year of good-standing, I get refunded the five C notes.

I now have something to ponder.