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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That's probably exactly what I'll be doing from now on. Was hoping for the simple "would you like to join?" but guess that's out of style.
I think the cashier was under the assumption that you wanted the discount, and asked at the end instead of immediately after you said you weren't already a member. It doesn't feel rude or invasive, from my perspective, maybe just phrased as an underpaid employee.
What I do recommend is a VOIP phone number and attached separate email for all marketing purposes. They can track and sell that as much as they'd like without impacting your personal details or necessary accounts.
Haven't looked into VOIP phone numbers before, thanks for the tip!
Could have been that too. I was polite and didn't fuss about it thankfully!