Tweet
I'm visiting my parents and I needed to take a shirt to the cleaners. So I walked a few blocks to the dry cleaners near my parents house, a business I know my parents have been using for well over a decade.
The guy at the counter asks me for my phone number. But I don't give them my phone number. I give them my parents phone number. Though not really: I gave him the former land-line phone number for my parents house, which was disconnected over half a decade ago. I did this because I assumed the dry cleaners had a database of customers and my parents would likely be in it under their old land line number, which they used 10+ years ago when they began using this dry cleaner.
Then the guy at the counter asks me for my last name. I have a different surname than my mother, but I gave him my mother's last name. Again, I assumed there was a database of customers and that my mom would be in it under her name.
Then he asks me for my first name. Uh-oh. I realize that this small dry cleaner does not have a database of customers and they just manually input the phone #, first name, and last name of each customer every time. Not being able to pass for an elderly woman, I give him my actual first name.
So now I have given this man a phone number that no longer works, my mother's last name, and my own first name. A person that does not exist and a phone number that does not work.
Is this perfectly analogous to Crossmere? No. The dry cleaner wasn't a law enforcement officer. But it just goes to show how quickly and innocently you can end up giving false information to somebody, especially if you are quickly being peppered with questions, with no bad or ulterior motives needed. If my shirt gets stolen in an infamous laundry heist, I will surely look suspicious to future historians, as I was undisputably at the scene of the crime at least once and gave a false name and phone number.
The guy at the counter asks me for my phone number. But I don't give them my phone number. I give them my parents phone number. Though not really: I gave him the former land-line phone number for my parents house, which was disconnected over half a decade ago. I did this because I assumed the dry cleaners had a database of customers and my parents would likely be in it under their old land line number, which they used 10+ years ago when they began using this dry cleaner.
Then the guy at the counter asks me for my last name. I have a different surname than my mother, but I gave him my mother's last name. Again, I assumed there was a database of customers and that my mom would be in it under her name.
Then he asks me for my first name. Uh-oh. I realize that this small dry cleaner does not have a database of customers and they just manually input the phone #, first name, and last name of each customer every time. Not being able to pass for an elderly woman, I give him my actual first name.
So now I have given this man a phone number that no longer works, my mother's last name, and my own first name. A person that does not exist and a phone number that does not work.
Is this perfectly analogous to Crossmere? No. The dry cleaner wasn't a law enforcement officer. But it just goes to show how quickly and innocently you can end up giving false information to somebody, especially if you are quickly being peppered with questions, with no bad or ulterior motives needed. If my shirt gets stolen in an infamous laundry heist, I will surely look suspicious to future historians, as I was undisputably at the scene of the crime at least once and gave a false name and phone number.
Comment