What A Card.

Fake gravestone for Penn & Teller at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. They had this installed as a setup for card tricks. Source: The Dead Conjurers

I lost my work ID card. It was a stupid thing to do and it’s even worse that I’d managed to hang on to the same ID card for almost fifteen years. The picture on that ID is of a very different me from a very different time when I didn’t need to pull out my ID so often but since COVID there are a lot more locked doors where I work and going somewhere for a meeting or even just to find a quiet place away from my desk to have lunch can mean swiping my ID half a dozen times. So it didn’t take me long to realize I’d dropped it somewhere and retracing my steps was hampered by a number of locked doors. I also needed it to get my car out of the parking garage, though the people at the card office told me I could download a parking app, submit my information, and after a 48-hour processing period would be able to use my phone to get in and out of the parking garage.

Fortunately getting a replacement card was easy and only took about five minutes and twenty-five bucks and my new card does everything the old card did except show me a younger, slimmer version of myself.

For a long time my work ID card was also a bus pass. The place where I work has an arrangement with the local transit authority to provide free service to employees. It was really easy—I just stepped onto the bus, swiped my card, and that was it, but last year someone decided that instead of allowing us to use our cards we should use a smartphone app instead. This was implemented quickly without any warning and without a chance for feedback. Still I’m sure there was a lot of careful consideration, thought, and discussion put into this and that, after weighing the pros and cons, they decided to do it anyway.

A few months ago I decided to try the new bus pass app after downloading it, submitting my information, and waiting a week for the 48-hour processing period. Then when I got on the bus and tried to scan the QR code the app generated I got an error. The driver said “That’s happening to everybody. Take a seat.” When I contacted customer service the response was, “Oh, we forgot to activate your account.” Of course any new technology is going to take time to work out the bugs.

I’m very careful with my new ID. In fact I’ve checked my wallet three times while writing this to make sure it’s still there. With any luck it’ll last until I retire, assuming they don’t decide to replace employee ID cards with a smartphone app, which is possible, and which will probably be done without any warning or opportunity for feedback. Still I’m sure there will be a lot of careful thought and consideration and after weighing the pros and cons they’ll do it anyway.

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4 Comments

  1. Ann Koplow

    Great post, Chris, and this reminded me of when I lost my ID card years ago. It was picked up by somebody who also worked in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area and she contacted me. I still remember her voice when she said, “I googled you and … you have quite a presence on the internet.” I wasn’t sure whether to be ashamed or proud, but I did get my card back, which still looks like a much younger, dark-haired version of me.
    Ann Koplow recently posted…Day 4411: What we can’t and can controlMy Profile

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    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      I’m very glad you got your card back and that you inadvertently enabled another person finding your work online. You’ve also reminded me of the time I found someone’s health insurance card. I could only find a LinkedIn profile for him and it wouldn’t allow me to contact him directly. I did finally find an address I think might have been his and put the card in the mail. Hopefully it found its way to him.

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  2. Amelia Desertsong

    I will never forget my first day of high school when they gave us ID cards we had to wear around our necks on lanyards. The punishment for forgetting your ID was immediate detention. One day I was in a rush to get to the school bus, and just as the bus got there, I realized I didn’t have my ID. I ended up just walking around for a while until my mom went to work and ended up just skipping school that day. Since I went to a school with over four thousand students, no one even bothered to investigate my unexcused absence. ID cards are just another way of Big Brother to track us going everywhere. I’m fine with drivers licenses and passports and things like that, long as you don’t have to scan them everywhere. They use this data they collect from card swipes against people all the time, although they can also make for handy alibis (wink, wink). I actually like that they made the public transit deal a smartphone app. The major tech companies track us where ever we go anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal. Oh, wait, our smartphones contain the vast majority of our identities these days, way worse than an ID card. Hmm, the conveniences of modern living must be exchanged for personal privacy and freedom of choosing your own path. How lovely!
    Amelia Desertsong recently posted…Walkie Talkies #3 – Karaoke and Cover ArtMy Profile

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    1. Christopher Waldrop (Post author)

      You’ve given me a wonderful idea: swipe my card at random entrances as I go by without going in. Flood the system with useless information. Also not everyone has a smartphone and the place where I work has offered people the option of picking up a free bus pass which I’ve thought about doing if I go back to riding the bus regularly and continue to have problems with the app. The bus pass would be really convenient because I’d only have to show my ID when I get it. The rest of the time there’d be nothing that could be tracked and I could roam the public transit system freely.

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