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A few brick and mortar store retailers around South Africa have started asking "May/can I have your cellphone number?" when I'm making a purchase to which I res
by jonathanlydall 4y ago
A few brick and mortar store retailers around South Africa have started asking "May/can I have your cellphone number?" when I'm making a purchase to which I respond with either "You don't need that." or simply "Nope.".
When asked why, conversation typically goes like:
Me: "I don't want my phone being sent SMSes or phone calls from your company or anyone they would share my number with."
Them: "Oh, don't worry, that won't happen from us."
Me: "Well it absolutely won't happen if you don't have my number.".
- AnimalMuppet 4y ago"No" is a complete sentence. You don't have to justify it, especially to someone who may be paid to not see the reasonableness of your logic.
- jonathanlydall 4y agoWhile I'm entitled to take that stance, I opt to be less confrontational since the person I'm talking to is just doing their job in the manner mandated by their corporate head office. I've never had to explain more than that and in the unlikely event they insisted, I'd politely ask to talk to the store manager about it.
- Karellen 4y agoI tend to go with "No, thank you, I'm fine." It kind of re-frames their request as if they were offering to do me a favour, which I then politely indicated I don't even need. I've found that it either cuts off most of the counter-arguments that the person asking was about to retort with, or it just throws them off-balance for long enough that the interaction moves on, enough that I don't get a lot of push back after using it.