It’s supposed to be this super duper important and secret number, but you have to bring a physical copy to work miles away from home for some stranger to copy. Many times you have to provide the number to even apply for a job and it ends up at who knows where because the application is on a third party private website. :agony-deep:
And oftentimes it doesn't even serve its intended purpose. It's supposed to identify you conclusively as an individual. But if, for example, a father and son have the same names, it's still possible for the father's credit history to become entangled with the son's, and the father's accounts to wind up on the son's credit report. Ask me how I know.