There's a disturbing trend in the world of retail these days. It seems you can no longer stop at a shop, pick up the things you want and pay for them. When you get up to the counter you inevitably get asked if you would like to spend more money on a “special” card that will ensure extra savings throughout the year. Why on earth would I pay more money for something that in the end will only generate more junk mail at my house? That's the other thing that happens if you agree to this madness. You spend 20 minutes filling out paperwork. If you say no, you spend another 20 minutes listening to a spiel about how great the card is. If you lie (this, was my brilliant strategy) and say you left your card at home you get 20 minutes of instructions about how you can bring the receipt back in and still get your “savings”. You're hooped no matter what you do, (and don't get me started on the gross amount of useless cards everybody seems to carry around in their wallets these days).

I think that if I'm standing at a counter with $25 worth of knickers or $50 worth of books, the person behind the register should just take my money and stop wasting my time. I figured out a dodge though. Nine times out of ten you can just use your phone number for these stupid things so listen to the person ahead of you and just use their number. You get whatever tiny discount is offered and you get to avoid 20 minutes of your time being sucked up. Granted, it's probably a little bit unfair that Sister Mary Agnes McConnell now has information stored in a database somewhere that says she owns a copy of “Being a Dominatrix for Dummies” but I can't be held responsible for people that don't protect their personal information better.

It's either that or saying “Take my money for the stuff that I want to purchase or I'm leaving right now” but I've worked entirely too much retail in my life to hand out that kind of abuse. The person behind the counter doesn't make the stupid policies and they aren't paid enough to care what I think. Aside from that, I would have to go somewhere else to try and find knickers and books and then there goes another 20 minutes of my life.

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