A New Low

[SailorMan]

Me and my GF were at the vet's once, getting some kind of care for Cthulhuahua. A woman was getting one of those ID chips inserted into her dog. You know, the kind that, with the use of the right scanner, can read the dog's name, the name of the owner, the owner's address and phone number. When she was asked for her phone number, so it could be encoded into the chip, she bristled, and gave a '555-XXXX' number. I couldn't see the sense of that, in this particular case.

[bankworking]

I never mind giving out my zip code. I figure that giving it out just means a better chance that the stores I shop at will open locations closer to where I live.

My phone number or anything more specific than a zip code... okay, I will give my phone number to my bookstore, but that's because I want the discount from my card, but I lost the card itself about two days after I got it. Other places, none of their business.

[zombiequeen]

Maybe they noticed her whiskers were getting a bit scraggly there, and wanted to politely suggest she trim?

The only other thing I can think of is not appropriate for even my mind at this hour.

[dalesys]

I often just give them the name of my cat, <Cat's real name> D. Neko. I am vastly amused that Kroger once sent her a free Mach 5 razor.

Shave the cat!

[Geek King]

I often just give them the name of my cat, <Cat's real name> D. Neko. I am vastly amused that Kroger once sent her a free Mach 5 razor.

[MoonCat]

That sounds like something that would be posted in SC. A lot of programs won't let you advance if you dont have a phone number. Just give an obvious fake one and let it drop. The $8/hr desk clerk doesnt care

Ours works like this, and there are a lot of variables involved anyway. There's no one answer to "how much does an ad cost?" But a trailer hitch?? They intend to do something with that phone number, probably call and makes sales pitches later on. If it was just marketing demographics, they could use a ZIP code.

[PepperElf]

at the pizza place i use to work for (little ceasers, like 20 years ago) we had to ask for numbers so we could ID the correct pizza when they came for pickup.


but if a customer insisted on not giving the number, i accepted. and if they wanted to use some other madeup number (like 123) i didn't really care.


i dont think we kept the numbers... this was back when they used handwritten slips - but i could be wrong.



but yeah i like the idea of the jenny number or the whitehouse number lol

[Whiskey]

Of course, I might pull something like--

J2K: You don't need my phone number.
Them: I have to ask for it.
J2K: And so you have, and I've told you I'm not giving it to you. Now, what's the price?

It could backfire, I suppose.

That sounds like something that would be posted in SC. A lot of programs won't let you advance if you dont have a phone number. Just give an obvious fake one and let it drop. The $8/hr desk clerk doesnt care

[Jay 2K Winger]

I figure you could try having fun with it.

Giving the old 867-5309 number or any other famous phone number, perhaps.

Or give them the classic 555-xxxx number. If they call you on it, just insist that it is your number.

Of course, I might pull something like--

J2K: You don't need my phone number.
Them: I have to ask for it.
J2K: And so you have, and I've told you I'm not giving it to you. Now, what's the price?

It could backfire, I suppose.

[paxillated]

Oh, yeah. I hate calling some place to get a ballpark guesstimate on something. They always want to send someone to do an estimate. I'm just trying to figure out if I can afford it in the first place! It's a waste of my time and their money to send someone out. Surely someone in your office can give me the basic price!

I got an over-the-phone guesstimate, finally, from a fence company. Guess who will get my business - if we can afford it?

[fireheart]

I would submit to you that a postal code would have been just as irrelevant to the question. They don't need any of that to tell me what price their hitches are. I havent even decided I am going to be their customer yet and here they are asking this.

Of course, even if I was in the act of buying the hitch outright, I still wouldn't give them any of that info, but all I did was ask for a price to SEE if I WAS going to buy.

At that point I'd agree with you. There's a Rite Price near home who will ask me what my postcode is. As I live in the same area the store's located, I just give it to them since it doesn't affect me otherwise But they also ask me at the end, not at the beginning.

[kzc]

"I don't have a phone" is my standard response. I only occasionally have to break out "I don't have an address" or, more rarely still, "I don't have a last name".

The policy is only half the problem. The other half is all the zombies out there who encourage such policies by just blithely giving over whatever information is asked of them.

Marketdroid tactics work because people are in general some combination of stupid and/or lazy and/or gullible. And since this is unlikely to change any time soon, those of us in the complement of the union of those sets can expect to find RK's situation increasingly common.

[blas]

A big reason I hate the personal info thing is I HATE making a one time purchase or just going about my business, and all of a sudden my mailbox is packed with their crap or they have the gall to start making stupid calls to me about their stuff. Uh. No.

[mikoyan29]

867-5309.....Tell them to talk to Jenny...

[MadonnaC]

tell them 202 456 1414

Let them speak to the whitehouse if they should ever decide to use it