Ahh, that makes sense. They usually want to know generally where you’re from. Area code or zip code. I have a really hard time understanding the outrage or the need to give false information. I’ve never been pressed that hard and assume they’d shrug and ring up my order if I was defensive about it. Really, hasn’t our threshhold of outrage gotten pretty goddmaned low that we’re willing to blow our tops if some underpaid minion casually asks for very general information about ourselves? Is it really worth bragging that you find ways of getting out of these interrogations with lies and deception instead of just telling them?
Or just saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t give out my phone number / address.” They say okay, and the transaction goes on.
If they find that most customers decline to give the information, I suspect they’ll stop wasting everybody’s time with it. Hint, hint.
Weeeee… shall OVERCOOOOOME!!!
Keep giving it to the man, you rebel.
The Radio Shack incentive to get the most new customers might have been a local pressure - when I worked for a craft store many years back they had pressure from Corporate to get X number of new mailing list members per month.
I recently went to Radio Shack to buy something, paid cash, refused to give my personal info, etc. The usual. I then went back to buy a pre-paid no-contract cell phone and could not buy it, even paying cash, without giving personal information. The salesman finally said “give me a name, any name” and pretty much would have applied the purchase to any customer in his system.
I bought my phone at a different retailer instead.
Back in the Stone Age when I worked retail, I would have much preferred for you go to my competitor. I wasn’t getting paid commission, and if my store closed, there were a dozen others looking for anyone with a pulse to stock shelves and ring orders.
Cheesesteak, if the cashier is hot, can I delude myself into thinking it’s personal?
You sure the cashier wasn’t hitting on you?
Nine digits? Are you giving out your SSN?
Yes, but if they ask, you can’t just tell them the number, you have to whip out a pen and write your number on a scrap of paper, or the palm of her hand.
Then you get to hear her say “Gee, I’ve never seen THAT move before, you’re so clever!” and can further delude yourself into thinking it’s sincere instead of sarcastic.
Of course, if you’re really into delusion, go to a bar with a hot bartender, or a Hooters. Instead of being snide, they have incentive to play along with the “I’m interested in you” thing.
I alone have the secret codeword that can be used in a wide variety of these types of situations!
When the salesperson asks for my phone number, I reply:
No, thanks.
Since I only have a cell phone, I’ve taken to saying “I don’t have a local number” whe businesses ask for my phone number (the whole thing, not just the area code), but I think I’ll start using Khadaji’s more honest “That’s private.”
I’ve been on the other end of this, however, working as a cashier at a local tourist/cultural attraction. We asked for people’s ZIP codes to track visitation (local vs regional vs national vs foreign, etc.). In several months of work, I only had one person flip out over the request and, generally, I think most people understood why we asked for it and that they weren’t revealing personal, tracking information. shrug
Why give out false information? To feed noise into the system. If everybody lied, then the system wouldn’t work any more and it would GO THE FUCK AWAY. Lie to marketers every chance you get.
I give it to them.
My country is 966, Saudi Arabia, the area code is 02, that is for Jeddah, att his point they look at me like I was a barking dog and loose interest.
What is this pitting about? They asked for your phone number, You said no thanks, The transaction continued, You are upset about being asked? Really?
Yes, because they’re not trying to provide needed products and services to people who want them. Better to confuse them so that stores don’t open where they’re needed, and product doesn’t get sent where it’s wanted and gets wasted instead. That’s the way to stick it to The Man.
Corporations are eeeeevil!
I’ve got nothing against corporations.
Marketing weenies however are another story. They give Evil lessons. And yes, if you work in marketing, by my definition (and that is really the only one that matters), you are a weenie.
Lest I forget… 
Years ago the local big bank bought an entire exchange and had it for their “time and temperature line”. They advertised that the number to call was 844-1212 but you could dial 844 and any random four digits to access T&T.
So my reponse was always “844-9417” I used that number at least 100 times and only had one salesrep recognize it as phoney.
Damn bank closed the T&T service so I had to switch to the number for my local Radioshack as a “throw away”. It’s my little way of protesting the old Radioshack hassles.
I think that I can explain, but suspect that I may take some shit for my explanation and that it may be one of those “if you have to ask, you won’t understand the answer” situations.
The first thing that you should understand is that this type of information gathering is pretty transparent data mining for marketing. In extreme cases (where they want your entire address of phone number) chances are that you are at best opening yourself to more junk mail and telemarketing from the company in question, and at worst will have that information sold to others (who will do the same). Even when they are only gathering, say, just the area code or zip code you are still helping them build demographic profiles and the like so that they are better able to target their marketing (if you think that this is to serve the customer better, I have an extended warranty plan that I would like to sell you).
This is where the “giving me shit” part will probably come into play. There is a school of thought that believes that marketing in inherently problematic at best, and exploitive and evil at worst. Those of us that fall into this camp are not content to just say “no thanks, please put me on your do not call list” to telemarketers, and to drop junk mail into the recycle bin. We want to do our small part to make the whole marketing machine less efficient and, if possible, bring it down.
And yes, it takes very little effort to just hang up on a telemarketer, to politely decline to give out information when making purchases or to simply toss junk mail. The think is that this is not the point. There are those of us who believe that there is inherent wrongness is attempting to manipulate people into buying things that they do not need and to consume when they could be leading more simple and happy lives. With that inherent value system in mind, we do what we can to jam the gears of the machine.
I know that the Free Market Worshipers™ will disagree, but that is where we are coming from.
Yes, they do. I was at the Best Buy here in Countryside two weeks ago, and they asked for my phone number. I gave them an old disconnected line number.
Binarydrone, this free-market worshipper doesn’t disagree with your 3rd and 4th paragraphs. I’m in complete agreement.
By golly, you’re right! “Providing needed products and services” totally and exactly meshes with my experience with marketers! I…I can’t believe what a fool I’ve been! I must immediately call Best Buy and give them all of my personal information, since it’s all used for the good of humanity it would be a crime against The Market not to! Thank you, Cheesesteak, for helping me see the light.
QUOTE=D_Odds, good to know.