Why do you want my telephone number?

"Why do you want my telephone number? I'm paying cash," I said.

"It's for our inventory," said the clerk, looking puzzled that I would ask. (I didn't give it.)

This new American obsession with telephone-number-collecting gives me the creeps. It must have something to do with the junk phone calls I have been getting several times a day since I moved back to the U.S.. But I can't help wondering who else is collecting this information, and what they are doing with it.

Comments

[O. Tantimedh]

There is a national "do-not-call" registry which helps cut down the number of junk phone calls. It has certainly cut down on the number of calls I have received in the past year.

I want to add that I have so enjoyed your posts from Paris and LA.

[LA Frog]

It is creepy indeed. You get asked personal data all the time in the U.S., and when you question the purpose -- which I do -- you are generally looked at suspiciously, as if you had something to hide.

As for marketing calls, I also recommend www.donotcall.gov. It is free, and the marketing calls will dramatically drop after you register (you can report marketeers online and they will get fined.)

[Sedulia]

I signed up on the donotcall.gov site my first week here, but I am still getting lots of calls, several a day, two months later. Some of them are even recordings, which is adding insult to injury!

[Doris]

As to the calls, if you have Caller I.D., you can also program your phone for a security screen that blocks most automated calls.

As to being asked your phone number (or zip code) when making a purchase, I find it very infuriating. Personal information equals money these days, and it isn't my job to make it easier for big business. I always ask the poor checker (it's not really their fault; they're required to ask) Why? And it does throw them off (most people obediently give out the info; like sheep). Usually it's some nonsense about them wanting to know where their customers live so they can serve them better. As if!

[Peggy]

I never give any information away. I have even stopped using store loyalty cards.

Try varying the story from time to tome. Sometimes telling the young sales person that you don't have a phone is more fun.

[Sedulia]

Like the way I say I'm a nuclear physicist in Kyrgyzstan on those website questionnaires...

[Amerloque]

Hi Sedulia !

/*/But I can't help wondering who else is collecting this information, and what they are doing with it./*/

…/…

/*/Like the way I say I'm a nuclear physicist in Kyrgyzstan on those website questionnaires.../*/

(grin)

Last time she was in SoCal, Mme Amerloque was confronted with this.

Instead of pointblank refusal, she simply gave an incorrect phone number. Very French indeed, eh ? (grin)

Of course all this collection of personal info has gone overboard. Info is power.

http://www.eff.org/

Best,
L'Amerloque

[Fred's Leash Holder]

I'm with Amerloque, I always give a false phone number. And I'm with you - I HATE being asked this stuff. I don't mind the stores that ask for zip code so much, but the phone number or address thing (for their mailings, like I need to get rid of more paper) runs me up the wall.

[chrissoup]

My phone is always 555-1212 (no phone numbers start with "555"). My zip is always "90000." Sometimes the clerks laugh as they record it; they're on to me!

[Sedulia]

My birthday is always January 1st, too.

I met someone whose real name was John Smith and he said no one ever believed him.

[Joni]

I tell the cashier that my number is unlisted (which it is) and then they just type in all zeros.