Dude, Where's My Password?

Nothing can paralyze a company like no-one knowing the passwords to the social media platforms, Google My Business account or associated gmail addresses. Y2K has got nothing on this!

They were created many moons by an intern or the work experience kid. 

No they weren’t, it was Fred, the IT guy who worked here for a week. 

I think it was Daisy, the receptionist who thought it would be a good idea to create a Facebook page for the company - she spent all day on it anyway. 

It was created by an agency that no longer exists and no one who worked there seems to exist either. There may have been someone called Melanie who knows about this, but she's now backpacking in South America.

Does any of this sound familiar? Then you know exactly about the kind of paralysis I’m talking about. 

If you find yourself in this predicament, most often Step 1 is to click on Forget Password

A message will be sent to a phone number that ends in 72

72?! whose number is this?

An email will be sent to 2*********@g****.com?!?!

Rule of thumb - be very scared if you encounter an email that begins with a number. 

If you are lucky enough to know the gmail that is connected with the account, you can try your luck over there

What was the last name of your third grade teacher?

What street did you live on in third grade?

What was the name of your first stuffed animal?

Does Google want to help confirm the account or is it trying to conduct therapy?

Speaking of passwords - conventional wisdom is not to use the same password for everything, but how are we meant to remember them all?! We have so many passwords for so many different platforms. A password such as hjk213(&)$2GHB.!2 may be unhackable but who's going to remember that?

Remember the good old days when you had a password you never forgot and had any problems with, but were then made to change because you had it too long!

There are times I can't remember my Facebook login and have to concede defeat and reset the password. It will log me out everywhere else I'm already logged in, but what choice do I have?

I type in the new password - the one I'm never going to forget only to be told - can’t use your previous password.

AAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I login, but due to the suspicious activity it wants me to re-verify that I'm a human by doing the traffic light/crosswalk test/street sign test

Now it all makes sense......

I can’t tell you how many hours of my life I’ve spent trying to prove that I’m a human. So much so, that you can endorse me on LinkedIn for spotting mountains and identifying store fronts!

What about dealing with customer support at Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter? This would be a wonderful idea if such departments existed. Instead we're sent down a Kafkaesque rabbit hole cloaked in red tape. 

By virtue of a miracle, the passwords for the company's social media accounts are reset and we can log in. They will be written down and kept in a place where they will never be forgotten. Right around this time, word comes back from Melanie the backpacker.

The password you spent eight weeks and the better part of your sanity trying to hunt down is 12345.

Have you dealt with something similar at your place of work?

If so, how did you deal with it?

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