I was working for a company that offered a health insurance package. One day I called the provider’s 1-800 number to get details about my benefits. The call connected me to an operator in the Philippines. The only way they said they could look up my file was with my Social Security number. That was unacceptable. I don’t give my SSN to anyone in a foreign country.
I went to the department in my office that handled insurance policies and told the woman there that it was not safe to give my Social Security number to someone overseas. She told me it was safe. I told her, “Just because you are oblivious to the security risks of giving my personal information to people in other countries doesn’t make it safe.”
Shocked, she said, “You called me oblivious? I’m offended!” and hung up.
Less than 40 minutes later my manager, his manager, the project leader, and his assistant came to see me. I told them exactly what happened. They seemed puzzled. Then two women from HR arrived and suggested we move to a conference room.
In the conference room, I told my story again. The HR women looked at each other and latched onto one thing: that I had called her “oblivious.” They ignored the context, ignored the security concern, and repeated the same question over and over, why did I call her oblivious? This went in circles until the male managers finally called out how absurd the whole thing was. Inside, I was bracing for the HR women to get offended at the word “absurd,” but they let that one slide.
I was then told to sign a letter warning me about “the importance of office etiquette.” I agreed only after attaching my full report to it.
Funny how no one gave her a letter about the importance of office tolerance.
By the way, the policy changed shortly afterward. Now you can give your policy number or employee number to get information about your insurance.
