Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihuxb.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!ihuxb!mcal From: mcal@ihuxb.UUCP (Mike Clifford) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: A new topic -- pressure from the victims Message-ID: <1094@ihuxb.UUCP> Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 11:57:49 EDT Article-I.D.: ihuxb.1094 Posted: Thu Jul 11 11:57:49 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 08:01:39 EDT References: <3965@alice.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 25 > It seems to me that I've been in an increasing number of situations > recently where someone has insisted that I do something I find > obnoxious, and where their power to do so has rested in the fact > that almost no other people stick up for their rights. > Example: a restaurant that refused to accept a traveler's check > unless I showed them my driver's license. I would like to know that if someone stole my traveler's cheques, they would have a tough time cashing them because they would need to identify themselves with a personal photo-bearing driver's license. > Example: have you ever read a lease for an apartment? Carefully? Have you ever owned property that you allowed others to use? > Example: when we bought our house, the water company wanted to be > paid a year in advance! (they bill quarterly) This sounds unreasonable. > Example: these days, when you pay for something with a credit card, > the merchant will probably insist that you supply your name, address, > and phone number. Again, this is to detect the use of stolen cards. > I used to get angry at companies that treat customers as criminals. > Now I also get angry at all the people who make it possible: the > customers who act like sheep and will apparently put up with any > kind of silliness. I don't think it is silliness and I "put up" with it because I think it helps lower the cost of crime. Mike Clifford