I was at my parents' yesterday, and told the story about the beauty salon, and my dad said that he had stopped shopping at Radio Shack because they require you to give them personal info before they'll sell you anything. I thought of another place that does that, too--Organized Living. When you walk up to the checkout counter, they say, "Are you getting our mailings?" If you say no, they want you to give them your name and address so they can add you to their database. If you say yes (which is what I generally say before I remember the whole spiel), they want you to tell them your name so they can look you up.
I always refuse, and they always get irritated. If they were actually giving me something, I might feel differently about it, but all they're giving me is a catalog that I throw away as soon as I get it, no discounts or coupons or anything.
So no matter what you say, you can't win.
I just remembered another one--I think it's Toys-R-Us. I honestly just don't get it, and I guess I would have assumed that most people think the practice it's perfectly acceptable and don't think a thing about it. But if so many people agree with me and think it's annoying and offensive, why do stores keep doing it? If people actually stop shopping somewhere because they know they're going to be put through the third degree before being allowed to give the store some of their money (like my dad stopped shopping at Radio Shack and like I shop much less at Organized Living than I used to because I know they're going to ask for personal information, does it not matter to the stores at all? Is their demographic information, or whatever purpose they're collecting it for, so much more important than customer satisfaction?
One person who wrote and said they always just make something up when they're asked said that that way, everyone's happy, no one gets irritated, and no one is the wiser. Someone else said (and I thought this was very cool) that they used to give the Sheriff's Department phone number when stores asked for a phone number, and that now she gives out her fax number.
Another person mentioned something that doesn't have to do with shopping, but with making a telephone call to ask a question of customer service and having to give your name, address, phone number, social security number and first born child before you can ask your question.
That struck a nerve with me because I've been involved in a long, drawn-out situation with Network Solutions (I won't go into the whole thing because believe me, it would take months), and every time I called them, they wanted my name, email address, phone number and any previously-issued work order numbers, and invariably after I'd given them all that information, they would tell me they couldn't help me.
It sort of depends on what kind of mood I'm in, whether I make something up or just refuse to comply. When I have to give a phone number, I transpose the last two digits, and when they want a zip code, I give them the one to my post office box rather than the one at my home. It's meaningless, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something in the battle.
For those of you who wrote wanting a translation of yesterday's journal entry, there was a link down at the bottom of the page that said April Fool which led to the "real" entry.
