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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Maybe just an awkward sales agent, or they thought you were mad at them for in their mind trying to help. I decline phone number and zip code all the time. Also been using someone else's phone number at grocery stores for years -- started by mistake. I don't care about accumulated points or whatever but discounts at grocery store are pretty significant for me.
But I understand your frustration in general. Keep up the good fight :)
What's frustrating is that they're not real discounts. The Club Price is the regular price, and you have to agree to tracking in order to not pay above retail.
Any time a store asks for a phone number, I use the local area code followed by 867-5309, and 9/10 times it works
How is Jenny and does Tommy know?
I can relate, and agree that maybe the cashier found it just as awkward. Tried to be as nice as possible because I know its a tough job!
Thank you and you too, fellow privacy enjoyer!
Yeah, I think this was just a hard sell, and it works. My friend and I were apartment shopping and had already checked out a few places. Then we arrived to look at another complex and after meeting with them, we said we'd let them know if we'd like to move forward. They were very friendly, but pushy, saying "no, you don't have to do that", "you're moving in here!", that kind of stuff. Being naive and lazy, we just said okay and took the path of least resistance. Oh well, gotta live somewhere!