I’m guiding a user through registering her profile on a password system, so she can reset her own password in the future without calling the helpdesk. The first thing to fill out is a 4-digit PIN.
Caller: “So, what goes in here?”
Me: “You need to enter a four-digit PIN, which is how we’ll verify your identity in the future”
Caller: “Oh, okay. So does it need upper and lower case letters?”
Me: “No, it’s not your password. It’s a PIN: Personal Identification NUMBER”
Caller: “So, what do I need to put in there?”
Me: “A four-digit number. It can’t be the same number in a row, like 4-4-4-4-, or it can’t be four ascending or descending numbers, like 1-2-3-4 or 9-8-7-6”.
Caller: “Ohhhhhhhh! So it can be any number, as long as it’s a numeral”
Me: *speechless*
–As long at it’s a numeral, yes. -Scott
So, is it upper case or lower case 1-2-3-4 ???
Didn’t understand “number,” yet knows the word “numeral”. I’ll make a note of that. Wait, is that a musical note?
Best trick I have learned when it comes to this is just asking them to pick a number between 1000 and 9998.