Living Without ID
I had no ID for two or three months earlier this year. I had lost my passport a few months before, then I lost my wallet. As you might imagine, it is difficult to get ID without ID. So partially out of laziness and partially out of a desire for adventure, I decided it would be fun to see how well I could get on without ID. It became a game, a stupid time-consuming game that I enjoyed greatly. For a few days, I had no ID, no credit cards, no access to my own money, and no apartment, and with some help from friends it didn’t disrupt my work or social life. Thanks guys!
Anyway, here are some things that were surprisingly easy to do without ID:
- Sign an apartment lease. Though I did have to have a friend get me my cashier’s check, since I didn’t have a bank card or ID at the time.
- Fly across the country. If you try to fly without ID, the manager at the security check point will pull you aside and ask you questions until he is satisfied that you are who you say you are. Despite messing up my address the first time since I had recently moved, once I showed them a prescription bottle with my name on it they were sold.
- Go to bars. I have a bit of a young face so the beard was very important here. The best way to get into the bar was to walk by the bouncer super confidently like I was already inside. The worst way to get into the bar was to ask “Do I look like I’m under 21?” If all else failed, I would just talk to the bouncer until we were friends (I’m not going anywhere, my friends are inside) then buy them a drink.
Here are some things that were surprisingly hard to do without ID:
- Buy alcohol at any chain store. There really wasn’t any way around this. You can’t talk a chain store employee into ignoring these rules, I tried so many times.
- Pay for a cab with a credit card. Cab drivers hate credit cards and so a few of them used lack of ID as an excuse to not accept my card.
