Fun At UW's Union South Computer Lab

PLEASE ENTER YOUR 10-DIGIT CAMPUS ID NUMBER.

Ok. XXX-XXX-XXXX

YOUR ID NUMBER MUST BE 11 DIGITS LONG.

What? You just said ten digits . . . And the number on my card only has ten digits. I'll try again. XXX-XXX-XXXX

YOUR ID NUMBER MUST BE 11 DIGITS LONG.

Well now I am really confused.

*I walk over to the "Help Desk"*

"Hi. My computer keeps saying I need an 11-digit ID number - but my ID number only has ten digits."

"Ah, but your ID DOES have 11 digits!" He says in a voice not unrelated to a magician who has just revealed a trick. He then points to a ridculously miniscule numeral zero, conveniently located in a section of my ID card which no number of mine would ever even visit for vacation. "THIS is your 11th digit!" He repeats the magician voice again.

I give him a blank stare, not unlike the endless blank regions of space between the zero and the rest of my ID number. "So does this thing go at the front or the back of my ID number?"

"The back."

"Thanks." I sit back down at my computer desk, and type in the 11-digit 10-digit ID number.
XXX-XXX-XXXX . . . . . . . X

HELLO.

AUTHORIZING ID NUMBER.

ID NUMBER INVALID.

BYE.

You have got to be joking.

XXX-XXX-XXXX-X

HELLO.

AUTHORIZING ID NUMBER.

ID NUMBER INVALID.

BYE.

By this time, David Copperfield over at the "Help Desk" is watching me, presumably chuckling at my complete lack of computer abilities.

So I left.