Persephone
10-03-2009, 01:04 AM
Something went wrong with my cellphone yesterday. Voicemail messages were garbled. By today it was so bad that I couldn't even understand the voicemail commands.
I was on my way home from getting my nails done, dressed very "borderline," that is, hair in a high pony tail, eye makeup with eyeliner, lipstick, large pendant earrings, a chunky bracelet, feminine watch, pink sleveless poloshirt, long pants from the misses' department, open toed high heeled sandals showing off my polished toenails and my purse slung over my shoulder.
Not quite "en femme" because I'm not wearing a bra.
Anyway, I stop off at the mall on the way home and go to the phone store. I trade "girl smiles" with the receptionist, explain the problem in a soft voice, and she escorts me to the tech deparment.
I'm greeted by the tech, a very nice metro?/gay? appearing guy who immediately detects the scent of fresh nailpolish and says, "Ooooh, someone just got their nails done!'
I gracefully and subtly display my nails on his counter, smile, and softly say, "I guess that would be me."
After I explain the problem he says, "O.K., I believe we can fix that. What's your cellphone number?"
I tell him and he feeds it into his computer.
Then he says, "And what's your name?"
Well, the phone is registered in my guy name, so I give him that one.
He keeps smiling and being friendly, but is just a wee bit surprised, and he says, "I'll need a picture I.D."
I say, "Really? Just to fix my phone?"
He says, "Yeah. We used to ask for the last four digits of your social security number but sometimes the wrong people turn out to know those, so now we're required to ask for a picture I.D."
How would someone get their hands on the number?" I ask.
"Oh," he says, "you'd be surprised. Sometimes a wife or girlfriend or family member comes in and gets all sorts of enhancements put on the phone when they're really not authorized to."
Out comes my male driver's license which still happens to have a pretty femme picture of me.
He glances at it and says, "O.K., now we can get on with fixing your phone."
After a few moments the phone is restored and I'm on my way. He was polite and curteous and at no time did he give the appearance of being "thrown."
But was all that "routine"? Or was it my male name and feminine appearance that made him suspicious? Did I come across as my own spouse or girlfriend perhaps attempting to access the voicemail messages on "his" phone?
I was on my way home from getting my nails done, dressed very "borderline," that is, hair in a high pony tail, eye makeup with eyeliner, lipstick, large pendant earrings, a chunky bracelet, feminine watch, pink sleveless poloshirt, long pants from the misses' department, open toed high heeled sandals showing off my polished toenails and my purse slung over my shoulder.
Not quite "en femme" because I'm not wearing a bra.
Anyway, I stop off at the mall on the way home and go to the phone store. I trade "girl smiles" with the receptionist, explain the problem in a soft voice, and she escorts me to the tech deparment.
I'm greeted by the tech, a very nice metro?/gay? appearing guy who immediately detects the scent of fresh nailpolish and says, "Ooooh, someone just got their nails done!'
I gracefully and subtly display my nails on his counter, smile, and softly say, "I guess that would be me."
After I explain the problem he says, "O.K., I believe we can fix that. What's your cellphone number?"
I tell him and he feeds it into his computer.
Then he says, "And what's your name?"
Well, the phone is registered in my guy name, so I give him that one.
He keeps smiling and being friendly, but is just a wee bit surprised, and he says, "I'll need a picture I.D."
I say, "Really? Just to fix my phone?"
He says, "Yeah. We used to ask for the last four digits of your social security number but sometimes the wrong people turn out to know those, so now we're required to ask for a picture I.D."
How would someone get their hands on the number?" I ask.
"Oh," he says, "you'd be surprised. Sometimes a wife or girlfriend or family member comes in and gets all sorts of enhancements put on the phone when they're really not authorized to."
Out comes my male driver's license which still happens to have a pretty femme picture of me.
He glances at it and says, "O.K., now we can get on with fixing your phone."
After a few moments the phone is restored and I'm on my way. He was polite and curteous and at no time did he give the appearance of being "thrown."
But was all that "routine"? Or was it my male name and feminine appearance that made him suspicious? Did I come across as my own spouse or girlfriend perhaps attempting to access the voicemail messages on "his" phone?