# No you don't need my cell phone number! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2021, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756 "2021-03-12T04:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/61 "2021-03-13T17:55:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I handed over enough cash to cover the purchase, but instead of taking the money, the cashier began explaining how for $X more I could extend… I started reading your post and mentally composing a response saying that, years ago, CompUSA was infamous for this, but then … > [@kayaker](#): > > CompUSA went out of business a short time later. Of course it was CompUSA. I remember once (early 90s?) they had a salesperson working the lines at the register pitching extended warranties. Not at the register – before you even got to the register. Best Buy still does it. And for ridiculous things. I mean, if I’m buying a USB-C cable, really? An extended warranty? OK, that one might be an exaggeration. But only a slight exaggeration. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/62 "2021-03-13T18:26:47Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > > > I have had cashiers at retail establishments get so persistent with demands for unnecessary information that I’ve abandoned whatever I was going to purchase and left. > > Back when you went to a computer store to buy a computer, I picked out a computer, keyboard, mouse, and monitor and took it to a cashier. I handed over enough cash to cover the purchase, but instead of taking the money, the cashier began explaining how for $X more I could extend… > > I stopped the cashier mid sentence and told him I just wanted to pay for my purchase and leave. He paused, looked around, then started his pitch again. I immediately stopped him and told him I’d already declined his offer. He again acted nervous and began his pitch again. > > That was it, I’d hit my patience limit. I walked out. CompUSA went out of business a short time later. I bought a similar computer for a similar price from a retailer that didn’t require their cashiers to harass their customers. Sounds like the cashier was afraid you might be a secret shopper. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/63 "2021-03-13T18:29:17Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > I handed over enough cash to cover the purchase, but instead of taking the money, the cashier began explaining how for $X more I could extend… > > I started reading your post and mentally composing a response saying that, years ago, CompUSA was infamous for this, but then … > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > CompUSA went out of business a short time later. > > Of course it was CompUSA. I remember once (early 90s?) they had a salesperson working the lines at the register pitching extended warranties. Not at the register – before you even got to the register. > > Best Buy still does it. And for ridiculous things. I mean, if I’m buying a USB-C cable, really? An extended warranty? OK, that one might be an exaggeration. But only a slight exaggeration. Staples has offered to sell me a Consumer Protection Plan on a packet of index cards. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/64 "2021-03-13T18:40:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I stopped the cashier mid sentence and told him I just wanted to pay for my purchase and leave. He paused, looked around, then started his pitch again. I immediately stopped him and told him I’d already declined his offer. He again acted nervous and began his pitch again. When I moved out on my own, I wanted to buy a TV and VCR. I went to a local electronics store known as “[Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Television_and_Appliances)”. Found something in my price range, and wanted to buy it. Salesguy started giving me a hard sell on the extended warranty. I didn’t know that they were such a scam at the time, but I had purchased exactly what I could afford. I literally did not have the money to add on the warranty price. He kept going on about how I _had_ to have it, and I kept telling him that I didn’t have the money for it. So, I didn’t buy it there, and they went bankrupt the next year. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/65 "2021-03-13T18:43:22Z")
There’s mansplaining and buttsplaining. Buttsplaining is talking out of your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/66 "2021-03-13T21:12:06Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Don’t you have to be a man to mansplain? Isn’t that the whole point of that word? Alright - do you want to gaslight some more? Tell me again that my experience didn’t happen? How about the person who had the same experience at Radio Shack? Going to gaslight them? What about those who encountered this at CompUSA, are you also going to tell them what happened to them didn’t happen? How about you try to gaslight some more gullible people elsewhere? You were wrong. Deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/67 "2021-03-13T21:14:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Sounds like the cashier was afraid you might be a secret shopper. More likely the cashier was afraid management was watching. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/68 "2021-03-13T21:23:31Z")
You’re probably right. I’ve never observed “secret shopper” operations while they’re happening (I’ve only read about them). It might make for an interesting and informative thread. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/69 "2021-03-13T22:54:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > He paused, looked around, then started his pitch again. > [@Broomstick](#): > > More likely the cashier was afraid management was watching. As soon as I saw that line about looking around I thought the cashier was looking to see whether store management was watching. Of course, they might also be watching via camera, in which case looking around won’t help; but it’s a likely reflex anyway. – Many many years ago, I took a job at a winery, working in the vineyards. My first day, they put me out in a field alone, pruning a whole lot of very young grapes; a good job for a novice pruner, because there wasn’t much wood to choose from so it wasn’t very confusing and was harder to screw up, but hard on the back because all the cuts were close to the ground. I assumed I was alone on the job because the rest of the crew was doing something more complicated. When I did eventually join the rest of the crew, they told me the vineyard boss had been up on the hill, watching through binoculars to see whether I would keep working when I thought nobody was watching. I was pretty ticked off about that at the time. The surveillance people are expected to put up with now is a whole lot worse. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/70 "2021-03-13T23:05:51Z")
2 out of 5 days a week I work with the store’s money. There has been, at times, over a million in cash in the room. Honestly, I’m not upset by the 4 cameras on me. I figure they’re my alibi - if something goes missing they’ll show I did nothing wrong. Another time, a customer accused me of slapping their kid. I said “roll the security tape” because I knew damn well they would show I didn’t come within arm’s reach of their kids. Surveillance isn’t always bad, but yeah, there are times it’s over the top bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/71 "2021-03-14T02:23:36Z")
This is why I resisted for so long getting any cell phone at all. I don’t feel the obligation to be available to anyone 24/7. I finally did get a phone, but it’s only a simple flip phone, so I can call a towing service if I have a car emergency. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/72 "2021-03-14T03:02:26Z")
I have to say, I’ve never had a store insist on getting my contact info to make a sale. I often DO refuse to give out that information. I’ve had a salesperson tell me that they are required to give me the whole schpiel about the extended warranty, and when they say that, I will generally just ignore them until they are done reciting it. I’ve never had trouble getting them to accept “no”. And yes, I have also had Staples or Best Buy offer me an extended warranty on a $5 item. But the cashier didn’t seem at all surprised that I said, “no”, and certainly was willing to ring up the sale. I guess I’ve just been lucky. I would be really pissed if I’d spent a lot of time shopping for something, and then the store wouldn’t sell it to me without shit like that. > [@doreen](#): > > I don’t know about CVS - but Rite Aid has had my cell phone number for years and the only texts I get are about my prescriptions - they’re due for a refill , my prescription is ready to be picked up, that kind of thing. Although actually, I think CVS does have my cell number and I’ve never gotten a text from them. CVS has my cell number, and a lot of other info about me. Maybe I opted out of sales texts. I don’t recall. But the only texts I get from then are when I have a prescription that needs to be refilled, and honestly, I find that convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/73 "2021-03-14T03:17:54Z")
Can’t we just say that if you politely decline to give personal info and they refuse, yeah, you can walk out without being a jerk. If you walk out before politely declining, you’re an asshole. It’s not that hard. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/74 "2021-03-14T03:33:29Z")
I can sign onto that statement. Yes, if they DEMAND your cell phone number to sell you a USB cable for cash, they are the asshole, and you are completely justified walking away from the purchase if you don’t want to give them that. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/75 "2021-03-14T03:33:44Z")
I agree. Sometimes I politely decline before their spiel because I know it’s coming, like for Target’s Red Card. If they need to spiel as part of them earning a living, I just smile and let them and take a short mini-vacation mentally. Usually after being in Target long enough to find what I came in for I need a mini-vacation. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/76 "2021-03-14T03:58:09Z")
I had trouble finding a COVID testing place that didn’t require an active mobile phone number, and I finally found Walgreens didn’t require one, but the turnaround time was longer. Engage rant mode. I have a cell phone, but I don’t pay for service. I keep a prepaid card in my car and my phone plugged into the charger. If I ever get stranded I have a phone to call someone with. But that’s literally the only thing I ever want to use my phone for. It’s getting harder to harder to live like that, and the pandemic seems to have accelerated it, with me having to stop going to the local pizza place because they required a phone call when you arrived to deliver to your car that was waiting. I had to tell the dentist office that I didn’t have cell phone and they had me make alternate arrival plans. I have also had the car repair place say they texted me while I was waiting for them to finish, and it took them a few minutes to send someone to physically get me from the waiting room because they assumed the phone number they had was being monitored (it was almost certainly my home phone that they had). I’m not averse to technology. I’m averse to spending money when it doesn’t economically benefit me. During the times in my life I had an active cell phone, most of the time it made my life worse. I did do some traveling and conventioning, and it was useful to have at those times, but I stopped doing that, and once I did I simply couldn’t see myself continuing to pay for even the low level of service that I was at the time. I’m certainly not going to be eligible for a government program to give free phones to poor people, because I make plenty of money. I just don’t want to spend any of it on a cell phone. Until they pass a law wherein you are required to have cell phone service in the same way you are required to have health insurance, in that the government will pay for it if you’re poor but if you’re not it’s been deemed that for the benefit of society you need to pay for it yourself, then I guess I’ll go along and keep up active cell phone service. But that’s what it’s going to take to get me to have a cell phone active all the time. And until that happens, places that assume you have a cell phone are simply losing my business to others that are more inclusive. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/77 "2021-03-14T04:24:58Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Usually after being in Target long enough to find what I came in for I need a mini-vacation. Usually by the time I’ve been in any large store long enough to find what I came in for, I need to Get Out Of There NOW. This is however not the fault of the store clerk and I can generally keep it under control long enough to get through the line in a normal fashion, including listening through a required speil once if they’re not allowed to skip it. I’m not going to listen through it three times, though. Generally they settle for once, these days – I also suspect that in the past enough people walked out without buying that it finally sunk through to management that the repeated hard sell was backfiring. I do wish they wouldn’t require store people to greet customers by shouting across three aisles and a counter whenever anybody walks into the store, though. If they’re right there, it makes sense; but the disembodied voice coming from 30 feet away and behind me doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/78 "2021-03-14T08:07:33Z")
Trust me, those of us who work retail find these things just as annoying, if not more so, than the customers do. But we’re hostage to our paychecks. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/79 "2021-03-14T08:46:39Z")
Only time I ever had to give vaguely personal details at a retail store was back when Tandy (sort of equivalent to Radio Shack) was still trading here in Australia. Person to person sales now? Never. Online sales are another kettle of sardines of course. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756/80 "2021-03-14T11:39:33Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Usually by the time I’ve been in any large store long enough to find what I came in for, I need to Get Out Of There NOW. This is however not the fault of the store clerk and I can generally keep it under control long enough to get through the line in a normal fashion, including listening through a required speil once if they’re not allowed to skip it Ditto. There are dumb things i need to do for my job, and I’m sympathetic that the clerk needs to do some dumb things, and so long as they don’t needlessly drag it out I’ll let them say the pitch once. Buying a car, the salesman literally told me he was required to pitch the extended warranty. But he was decent about not complaining that i played with my phone while he did it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-you-dont-need-my-cell-phone-number/937756.md?page=5)