A few eyars ago, when I had returned on a visit to the town where my family lived, my mother asked me to go to her bank and get her some cash. She was ill but had filled out the paperwork on forms she had from the bank, and I was going up to the high street anyway for other errands.
She had been a customer of that bank for many decades. The young cashier took the form and listened to what I told her, said "wait a minute please", and got her supervisor.
The supervisor, a lady with grey hair and a strong face, came and looked at me, and then said "You look more like your father." I agreed, she nodded to the cashier, and mom got the money. No ID, no signature check; just the best damm facial recognition system on earth in operation.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The same thing is true here of our local banks and stores; they know you and work along with you. Even the post office; yes, the post office requires all the usual paperwork to do things like open/maintain a PO Box, but they do so in an apolo- getic manner, typically blaming all the new rules and regulations on 'the 9-11 situation and what is required of us now-days as a result.' PAT]