Okay the title is a bit exaggerated, but honestly not far off. This post is very mundane and a bit long, but thought it fits the community.
I’m visiting my home country and went shopping for pants, there were “30% off everything!” signs with a tiny text underneath that said “member discount” (don’t have membership). Not a problem, did not notice and I don’t care for such marketing tricks to get you into the store but okay.
Picked up couple of pants, went to the cashier and they asked me “do you have our membership?” - I answered no and expected the follow up question whether I’d like to join, but, to my positive surprise the cashier just happily responded “okay, not a problem!” and continued to bag my stuff.
I stood ready to pay and then the cashier said “now I just need your phone number and you can pay”. Hold up. What. I did not expect that, I honestly had a burst of anger inside me (never gonna take it on a cashier, they are just doing their job). I asked nicely why do I need to give my phone number and I was told that to register me as a member so I can get the discount.
I declined and said I don’t want to join and would like to just pay.
The entire interaction after questioning why they need my phone number was awkward, as if I had been the first person to decline, the weirdo, aluminum foil hat wearing hermit.
This was just one of many interactions in the recent years that make me feel as if I was a weirdo for not sharing all my info around. The worst is when everyone keeps telling me “its just an app, just download it and use that why do you make things complicated” or “just sign up you don’t need to pay anything”.
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I think your misinterpreting your own social anxieties as being made to feel like an “outcast”.
The fact of the matter is it’s just not normal to question why a store wants your phone number and I’m sure the cashier was taken aback by the whole situation.
Convenience, not privacy, is the norm. There is going to be tons and tons of awkward social interactions when you go against social norms. Accept it and be proud your advocating for your privacy.
Yeah the title is a bit of an exaggeration of my feelings and as you mentioned, I was a bit anxious too since I have been abroad for quite a long time (and encountered something I did not expect in what I thought was an environment that could not surprise me).
Agreed, it could very well be that I was the first customer to question since the cashier started working there.
Thanks for the uplifting comment!
(Your Area Code) 867-5309. None of the younger store clerks know the song reference when I give them this number. But I get chuckles from older folks in line behind me
Or give a 900 area code.
What’s the reference?
lmao that’s hilarious
I don’t get it either. I would rather use 8-800-555-35-35 because of the catchy meme ad.
That doesn’t even look like a real phone number. Just use
0118 999 881 999 119 725 3Well that’s easy to remember!
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There’s usually already an account with that number, so just try it out. You probably don’t even need to actually open an account. BTW, if you do open an account, don’t expect that a fake phone number is going to keep you anonymous. Everything is linked these days. All of the big data brokers are buying and selling information to each other. The second you swipe a card, it’s going to match that card to real information from some random online purchase 95 years ago, and they’ll have all of your real information, including political preferences, address, phone number, all of your email addresses, ethnicity, height, weight, sexual preferences, everything. They have it all, and it’s all linked to every credit card you have ever used.
Pay cash when available, keep cards for when it’s not or it’d be a hassle (your discretion).
I use this everywhere. Regularly get discounts on gasoline.
Grocery stores. Picking up prescriptions at the pharmacy (there have been a couple of months where I couldn’t have afforded the cost if there weren’t discount points on 510-867-5309). Stuff at the hardware store. Target, occasionally.
I’d use that number all the time and not take the rewards. Glad my stupid tech job was actually used for something good.
I usually don’t take the rewards - I like to pay it forward for the few times I really needed them.
This only works if you’re from a country with 7 digit phone numbers.
How about [your area code] 800-8135?
I just search online for the stores number and use that. They can bear the burden of their own bullshit spam
Give fake information every time. Waste the cashiers time with questions. Make them pay for it.
Yeah, that’ll teach a lesson the minimum wage employee who didn’t make the rules.
It doesn’t waste their time. They are getting paid by the hour. As long as you are friendly it doesn’t hurt anyone to give a wrong phone number to get a discount.
I am absolutely not advocating rudeness to the cashier.
Give them the opportunity for malicious compliance.
Allow them to answer every question and have a pleasant break from the monotony, knowing full well that they are being cheerful and helpful just like the training videos and handbook demand they be.
I am absolutely not advocating rudeness to the cashier.
IMO, lying to somebody, specifically with malicious intent (as opposed to a white lie to avoid hurting somebody) is rudeness. Just because they might not catch onto it doesn’t change anything; you’re being a bad actor in this scenario, and taking out your frustration on somebody who had nothing to do with your ire.
Except the person you just signed up for unwanted spam texts.
(Area code) 867 5309
It already has an account, and nobody who gets that number keeps it for long, it may not even be assigned anymore because of how much spam it probably receives.
Ah, I was wondering where all the Karens went.
Cool assumption bro. Hope that works out for you.
I am never rude to the poor people that have to work retail. I know the pain; I have been on the other side of the counter.What I’m talking about is malicious compliance.
They tell the cashiers to push the program and be helpful? Fine. I will let that cashier be the most helpful employee ever and at the same time gum up the company data collection system with fake information.
At the same time as more punshment to the company they will see reduced sales and throughput requiring additional cashiers (more hours/pay for those people).
But please bring on the fake internet point brigade.
Why you assume your have to be rude? They are all underpaid by the hour…you think the cashier gives a damn about answering dumb questions when they themselves ask for personal info that IS NOT REQUIRED.
Waste their time…cashiers don’t give a shit
I didn’t say to be rude to the cashier. They make hourly wage, doesn’t matter how many people they check out.
Make the company pay. Cause less product to be sold per hour. Cause more cashiers to be required. Make it more expensive to have the data collection program than to not have it. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Or just let them get away with it. Your call.
No point asking them to justify why they have to ask, they probably don’t even know. Just say “Sorry, I don’t give that out”. I’ve never had a store push back after that - they probably get it all the time.
From a privacy point of view, it makes pefect sense to not share your phone number with a merchant. The only buisness you have with them is a single transaction, they don’t need any more information about you other than knowing that you paid.
Agreed. It used be worse here - at some point merchants wanted your social security number to create a unique customer identifier.
I will not describe how angry I felt hearing a shoe store clerk ask for my social security number (again, did not lash out at the clerk), but I was angry.
That thankfully did not last long (iirc).
Duh fuq.
I wonder how many people would give their social that easily.
Sadly enough that several stores in this country started doing the same until enough privacy aware people noticed and made a fuss about it.
Be as rude, as harmful and as immoral to them as legally possible. These advertising system workers don’t deserve anything good.
Not exactly setting the good example.
Be excellent, but that does not mean you need to spend your attention to them. Let that kind of advertising system quietly die.
Well your opinion on this is valid too. Mine is unpopular so I expected disagreements.
/s, right?
No.
Not to retail workers. The vast majority of them are underpaid and overworked. Between the stressful nature of a job like that and the various stresses that tend to come along with being an adult working for anywhere near minimum wage they probably don’t have the mental bandwidth to care about anything beyond their ability to get by. You’re not going to change anything by being a dick to someone like that.
Now if you happen to run into a developer or similarly paid person for a company like Meta or Google, absolutely be a dick to them. They’ve chosen to work for evil and have the means to choose otherwise. Acute social pressure could actually make them care and choose something else.
Here it’s similar. I’ve found out that if to the question
do you have our membership?
I respond “No, thank you”, they often understand correctly and don’t assume I want to set one up
Now I know! I was positively surprised when they didn’t ask the follow-up question, but I see now they have been trained to not ask it at all.
To be fair to the cashier, they were just trying to do something nice for you and getting you a free discount. I doubt that any “training” was involved, they probably didn’t think that anyone would refuse to give a phone number for a discount.
Most people wouldn’t care, but I used to get so any spam calls that it wasn’t worth the risk anymore.
You made me question myself now, was I being unreasonable?
Didn’t even think that the clerk might have been just trying to help me out, I felt like this was a smart sales & marketing psychological trick to give up and go the way of least resistance to get me to sign up (obviously not by the clerk directly, but as part of their training on how to deal with customers).
But either way, thankfully I was polite and nice about it. I might have become too cynical about everything regarding my private info in the last few years.
No you weren’t being unreasonable. They absolutely weren’t trying to help you out of the kindness of their heart, they were trying to seamlessly get your info by just keeping the conversation moving, and not asking if you -want- to sign up, to which yes or no are the only answers. When they ask for your number it’s weird to answer as though they asked a yes or no question, and that’s intentional.
I’ve worked retail, I was trained on canvassing sales (just trained, I quit before I started because it was super shady tactics I wasn’t comfortable with), that tactic is 100% intentional to get the info without you thinking about it. Some places even give bonuses if the employees sign up a certain number of people. Nothing altruistic about any of it.
When you don’t follow their script they get confused… because it’s a script. Not because they think you are mad; they don’t care about you as long as you don’t yell at them. You are just nameless face #545 of the day.
Whenever someone asks for my number or email I smile and tell them “oh, I don’t have an account with you, and I really don’t want one, but thank you all the same.” It’s direct and maybe a bit rude to some people, but they typically apply whatever discount anyway, and if they don’t, meh.
If they ask for zip code or address, I tell them they don’t need it, and with those I will get rude if I get pushback. This includes when I call for product support or something and just have a question. “No, you don’t need to know anything about me to answer my questions, and I won’t be providing it unless I feel you need it, regardless what you think or what your system says.”
Thanks for the input! This kinda answered a question that popped into my mind: do the employees get bonuses for registrations.
And exactly, it felt too intentional to leave out the question, didn’t feel “natural” the way the phone number topic came up.
I know we are constantly being harvested for every little bit of data online, but it creeps me out when I encounter information “harvesting” by just talking to a store clerk.
I wonder where you live that that happened. In America you’re expected to say no, cashiers don’t care. They don’t get paid enough to.
This happened in Finland, but I didn’t want to specify it to spark a universal conversation, which succeeded!
I know people from all around the globe deal with privacy issues and hoped that others would share their experiences.
I’m a casher in the US of fuckin A and I can assure you that we don’t care on a personal level what you do. If someone not having or wanting to enter a phone number at the register is the weirdest customer thing that happens in a shift then it’s the most relaxed shift of my damn life.
Why don’t you just lie … Each time a different name surname email address physical address phone number … Yeah sometimes it’s Mandatory to use a real address for delivery purposes just put a random name in and add a post-it on the doorbell saing something on the line of leave packages for Crudelia demon here please. Temp mail for most discounts is enough… The test cases in which they do not only ask for your phone but also want to verify it it’s pretty slim …
That’s the advice I’ve gotten here pretty much, and will probably deal with it in that way from now on!
It is sad that we have to do that, but don’t think this will change any time soon.
I have a second SIM that I use for situations where I don’t want to give out my real number.
It’s a traditional PAYG SIM where I pay for a tiny bit of credit and it lasts until I use it. I need to make a billable once every few months to keep it active. So I just text myself once every couple of months. The $10 I put on it will last a few years before I need to top it up. Or I could just ‘burn’ it and get a new one.
This is another great idea. Similar to having extra email for spam.
Yeah usual 2024 dystopia
Missing the entire fucking point, but that’s typical for braindead .ml users I guess.
Some email services will let you append arbitrary strings to the end of your email address with a +. Whenever a sales associate asks for my email to sign up for discounts, I give them email+spam@provider.com. I love the looks I get for that.
I miss print coupons. Hearing “get the app” or “there’s an app for it” makes me flinch these days.
This is sadly very common where I’m from, except you don’t even get a discount from it. I’ve taken to just politely declining, since I’m sure the person working the cash is probably pressured to get people to give their personal info.
“And can get your email?”
“No thank you”
“I need your email for the receipt”
“I appreciate it but no thank you”
It’s a slight non sequitur while still being polite. Saying “no thank you” when someone is pressuring you works well in many situations.
The receipt is rarely optional for the store though, if you ask for a print out they would have to do it
The email is 100% optional though. Also customer can decline a receipt.
Right, they can’t refuse issuing a ticket because you don’t want to provide an email.
In some countries receiving the ticket is not optional even for the customer 😭
Oh I didn’t know that, they can’t just wave it away?
No, in Argentina for example, they’re supposed to hand you the receipt, otherwise they could get in trouble.
I think it’s because there’s a lot of selling off the books
I do this all the time.
“Can I have your address?”
“For a haircut? No, will it let you skip it? Ok good do that then, thanks. I don’t need 50 new mailers a month about damn haircuts, you feel me.”
Problem solved, they always just say “yeah I hear that.”
“I don’t have one” is what I typically say lol
It’s been more than 20y since the first time I remember sternly declining to give either a phone number or postal code to a cashier in a retail shop. It pissed me off then and still pissed me off now.
Another way they get your phone number is mandatory SMS 2FA login. The Dunkin Donuts app does this shitty behavior.
Why is there a dunkin donuts app?
Why is there still Dunkin Donuts?
Most likely used to get discounts but you pay with your information.
