I quite accidentally give the answer "why do you want it?" to the e-mail check-out question, which in social conditions is pretty rude since I should be smart enough to understand the context and not create conflict. Mind you, the people asking you for it should understand that "no thanks" is socially an answer, especially to one designed to kind-of trick you into thinking purely logically and give the honest answer (which "what is your email?" absolutely is).
All you need to do in these situations is be polite.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
I just don't see the problem with saying 'no' politely. Cashiers over here routinely ask if I'd like to donate money to $corporateCause which is just there to give the company a better tax break and I automatically decline. It's not a big deal at all, it's not like the person behind the counter cares... they are just obligated to ask.
ThatGuyThere's self-described pedantic comment is that "no" is not a proper answer to "what's your email?" I'll agree that the lie of "I don't have one" is fine, but I obviously had to reply because technically correct is not always the best kind of correct, therefore making me technically correct or, er, something.
But you've nailed it. It's not like the cashiers themselves care. It's more that their managers care, and force them to care. The things I've seen managers do to get good metrics...
...but we have another thread for that kind of story.
@Thenomain States my position better then I did.
When asked about donateing money I tend to reply no politely, or in the case of it being a cause I support occasionally yes. But again do you want to donate x amount of money is a yes or no question. What is your e-mail is not.
I will gladly go above and beyond answering the scope of a question, like when asked "Do you know the time?" rather then yes I give the time because the yes is then implied since I must know to share the info. But I cannot answer "What is your e-mail?" with a Yes or no, because that does not actual answer the question either directly or implicitly.
I do not mind to social polite lies because they happen all the time, like this verbatim opening conversation from when I got gas today, Cashier asks, "How are you?" I smile and say "Fine. How are you doing?" He replied with, "I can't complain.", then we went about the business transaction and everything was cool. We even added in some local sports talk. But I know my fine was a lie, today sucked and I was driving home in traffic in 98 degree heat with my AC acting up in may car, and I am willing to bet the attendant can and does complain on a frequent basis. But had either of us gone into our personal gripes it would have made the transaction unpleasant for both of us.
So yes I prefer a polite "Don't have one." lie to the non-answer "No." because the first is something that right or wrong I have become accustomed to but non-answers to questions annoy me when others use them so I do not use them myself. If I decide to not answer a question I just remain silent or change the topic, but I do not give non-answers.
@ThatGuyThere
I do agree that just "no" would be an inappropriate answer to the question "what is your email?" However, the implied rest of that question is "so that we can put you on our list," so "I'd rather not sign up for emails, thanks," would be perfectly appropriate, as well as accurate. But I also agree that the cashiers probably rarely care that you lie about it.
I'm pretty sure I've only ever been asked "would you like to sign up for our email list?" though, and "no, thank you," does work just fine for that.
(To be more or less on topic: I suspect I might not be comfortable with how much info Pokemon Go wants either, but since I don't have anything that could play it anyway, I'll just sit back and watch the rest of you catching 'em all.)
I go with "I don't share that information," on that one, personally.
I have heard both the "What's your email?" and the "Would you like to sign up for <stuff> with your email?" and other permutations. It's similar to the way a lot of places would ask for a phone number, and the answer was the same then: "I don't share that information."
They used to ask the latter (phone number) regularly at one place we shopped a fair bit, and asked: "So... why are we constantly being asked this? It's invasive." The salesperson sighed and nodded and actually knew what they were using the info for at the time, for their store, and she told us. They send out mailers regularly, and before they had custom UPCs that would mark which address that particular mailer was being sent to (which they apparently do now, similar to the custom 'text it to yourself' coupon things some retailers use now on websites), they used that information to geographically track which local areas had the highest customer concentration. The end result in that case is relatively harmless, but once they have that information, they can do anything in the world with it -- it's not like they get rid of it, so even if they only use it for that focused and harmless purpose today, tomorrow might be different.
We're seeing the email tracking now in part due to the volume of mobile phone use, which makes geographical tracking by phone number a lot less reliable. (My husband and his mother share an account; they both have New Jersey numbers while he lives in DE and she lives in FL, for instance, and a fair number of the folks I know have mobile numbers in a similar position if they've moved and kept the number, etc., which a lot of folks do.)
I get wanting to be private, but then you get people who don't want to tell you their birthdate, or their address... when they are calling in for customer service. Because asking a birthdate is rude when you are asking a woman. That was for cellphones. The address? That was for cable.
Just... people.
The upside of working at a university, Pokemon Go edition:
The downside of working at a university, Pokemon Go edition:
@Autumn Why is everyone in Toronto team red? Damn you, reds! Thrice damn you.
@Arkandel said in Pokemon Go:
Why is everyone in Toronto team red? Damn you, reds! Thrice damn you.
Irony, I think.
Young man killed after being lured to the location. (No, this isn't the one on Snopes which was false.)
@Insomnia said in Pokemon Go:
Young man killed after being lured to the location. (No, this isn't the one on Snopes which was false.)
Okay... I don't want to sound calloused... but what the hell? I grew up in Ecuador. When I was a teenager in Ecuador, you DID NOT go out into the street at night by yourself, or even with just a plus one, after a certain time because you were going to end up mugged, dead, or both and worse. If this app had been around when I was a teenager, we would have never gone out at night into the streets to play it... or we would have gone in a gaggle of five PLUS people.
Guatemala is just as dangerous at night as Ecuador is. Did this mother not teach her child about the nature of where he lives? You don't go wandering down random streets at night- stick to public and crowded places, and bring a group with you. That's what tourists do.
Vorpal is actually Satan made MU*nifest
@Vorpal
I agree with you 100 percent, playing a game or not know where you are going.
I like in the US, and live in a very safe small city, (125 K) but even so there are parts of it I wouldn't venture into after dark.
I can understand the gotta get them all mentality, trust me I have gone into flea markets in places I felt unsafe in the daylight because I heard there was neat comics there cheap. (There was.) But go in groups and be safe about it.
@Vorpal said in Pokemon Go:
@Insomnia said in Pokemon Go:
Young man killed after being lured to the location. (No, this isn't the one on Snopes which was false.)
Okay... I don't want to sound calloused... but what the hell? I grew up in Ecuador. When I was a teenager in Ecuador, you DID NOT go out into the street at night by yourself, or even with just a plus one, after a certain time because you were going to end up mugged, dead, or both and worse. If this app had been around when I was a teenager, we would have never gone out at night into the streets to play it... or we would have gone in a gaggle of five PLUS people.
Guatemala is just as dangerous at night as Ecuador is. Did this mother not teach her child about the nature of where he lives? You don't go wandering down random streets at night- stick to public and crowded places, and bring a group with you. That's what tourists do.
To be fair, some kids don't learn or don't care. There is a disconnect between what we teach children and what they assimilate and work into their general attitudes, and sometimes no matter how much your mom wants to teach something, you gotta learn it the hard way. This way was fatal. It saddens me that any nation has this sort of thing happen--mine ain't much better, to be honest. I'm an adult and I still walk pretty quick down the street...
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
@Coin I guess Sondheim said it best: Careful the things you say, children will listen. Unfortunately they tend to listen to the things people don't want them to.
@Vorpal Yeah I'm a 'do the everything' gamer, and I don't have a phone, so the whole Pokemon Go craze has probably passed me by and it's a good thing. But I also live in a teeny tiny town where the one street through the road also used to be the highway and I feel really super safe here. But then again I wouldn't go trampsing around on other people's property either.
With my luck I'd end out on the dykes at low tide and get stuck in the mud.
Heard there was a park nearby that's lousy with Dratini. Rolled up at 8pm and there were atleast a couple hundred people there. Bonkers!
@Arkandel said in Pokemon Go:
Dude, I was once looked directly at during youth group as the youth pastor said, "And maybe some of you are watching things you shouldn't, like Pokemon." And then continued with his sermon.
