Hi rickair,
No, I don't think that was it. The last time I applied for a certificate was a LONG time ago, back when we still had paper and the SSN was our lic #. I converted it to the modern license with some help from a FSDO, and it does have a cert #, but it is not the same # as what I got today... which is a 9 digit # in SSN format. The office did say that # didn't belong to anyone, as it is a strange # with a lot of 9s in it. I'm not sure the front office is particularly with it, and for all I know my AME is chewing them out, as well as for telling me he could do 1st classes.