Maybe you should give them the number for one of those Caribbean island-based porno lines–big surprise when the telephone bill comes due.
I’ve worked at two places that have asked for phone numbers.
One was a video rental store. If you give a fake phone number to a video rental store, you arn’t doing yourself any favors. If you start racking up late fees, video stores will usually call you to give alert you to the situation. This is especially important when the fees are because of something stupid- like you returned the tape to the wrong store, or you put the wrong video in the box when you returned it. If the phone number is fake, or not current, you won’t figure things out unitil you happen to come to the store again and find a seventy-five dollar late fee. You’d be surprised at how many customers give a fake number, or fail to update their number. and then whine and whine about “why didn’t you tell me!”.
The other place I worked at would get a phone number on warrentied items. It allowed us to give warrenty refunds on items even if the customer had lost the receipt. Overall, it made things a lot easier.
I was going to start a thread about a similar situation a couple of weeks ago that made me more than a little upset. I went to a new pizza joint in town called Coco Brooks (for any Calgarians reading) to buy a take-and-bake pizza. The girl behind the counter asked for my phone number, and I didn’t want to give it to her because I am also sick of being asked for personal information for every little cash purchase. She said she had to get my phone number so she could tell if I had bought their special pizza-making kit yet. Turns out, everybody who buys pizza at this place to take home and bake MUST BUY THEIR KIT. She actually refused to sell me a freakin’ six dollar pizza because I wouldn’t buy the mandatory kit. She said it was a warranty issue; you know what? When I buy a six dollar pizza, it doesn’t have to come with a FREAKIN’ WARRANTY!!! If it’s not that great, I don’t eat there anymore, and don’t think twice about the six bucks. They’ve have, however, guaranteed that I won’t eat there ever with their asinine and intrusive Pizza Nazi Policy. (Okay, I might eat there by giving them the number of a friend who has the stupid kit. But not yet - I’m still too mad at this little dictatorship.)
Well, it’s been an hour since you posted. Are they out of busines yet?
I have been to a couple stores (invariably in US territory) where the cashier would actually refuse to ring up the purchase unless I gave my phone number. My response: “Well, if you don’t want to sell me this without any strings attached, then I’ll just have to buy it somewhere else.” And with that I would drop whatever merchandise I was carrying on the counter and leave.
I wonder what their response would be if I said I didn’t have a phone number. (I have moved several times over the past few years, and I don’t usually get a phone installed until/unless I need it. This may be several months after I move in, or it may be never.)
I like my dad’s response the best: “I don’t have a phone.” That’s what I use.
I find this practice just as annoying as everyone else. Thankfully, I haven’t had to deal with it all that much, since the only store I can remember this happening in regularly is Radio Shack, and I’m not in the Shack all that often.
But I’d like to add that I don’t think it’s ‘taking it out on the cashier’ to say, politely, “Sorry, I don’t choose to give out my phone number unless it’s necessary.” Giving them phone numbers that spell out things, or are obscure film references, really isn’t helping anything. It gets you out of the store, yeah. And somewhere down the road, the marketing department is going to get some wrong numbers, yeah, or they’re going to assume you’ve moved. But if enough people just told them, no, sorry, there’s no reason why I should give you my private phone number for this cash transaction, then maybe they’d take the hint.