After being without television for the past two years, I finally decided to bite the bullet and order cable again. Our local cable company is Comcast.

I decide to be smart about it and order it online, to save time and hopefully money. After I checked all the boxes, filled in all their forms, and then selected the time and date I wanted them to arrive for installation, they required me to chat online with a Comcast Representative.

I thought it was annoying at first. I gave one word responses, while the person on the other end posted cheerful and personable questions. I was quickly getting frustrated with the entire process.

After I complained that the online chat was a stupid idea and to please pass along my feedback. The Comcast Representative asked me for my social security number. I couldn’t believe it. I responded that it would be a cold day in hell before I entered my social security number in a chat room online. I don’t care if this idiot was a “Comcast Representative.”

I promptly closed the chat room window. Who knows if I’ll get my cable but at this point I don’t really care.

If I’ve learned one thing being online over the past 20 years, it’s never to give out personal data online — especially my SSN – and even more especially in a chat room, private or public.