Given enough time and resources, it could be done

Consultant pilot fish is called to a community college to develop an online system for registering students in continuing ed classes. At the meeting to develop specifications for the project are fish, the IT director and the continuing ed director, who says that it’s essential that people can’t input invalid Social Security numbers. Fish and the IT director can’t make any headway when they try to explain that there is no way to prevent that.

All right, then, says the continuing ed director, “If we cannot prevent that, I don’t want the project.”

End of meeting. And for fish, no regrets about that particular lost job.

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