I Embarrassed My Wife.

I figure this is a good clickbaity title for my first post.

Hello. My name is Clay, and I run this site. Originally, this site was started whilst locked in my basement during the Covid era, thinking "hey... nostalgia plays hard right now, I like retro tech, let's talk about how fucking ruined society has become with modern platforms, subscriptions, devices, and overall user hostility." Well, the site's been burned down a few times (hence the lack of content if you've been here before) through trying various platforms, hosts, etc., and here we are, back from the grave once again to give it another go. So welcome, first-timers and old friends alike.

Trigger warnings include foul fucking language and lack of empathy for your feelings, if you don't like what you read simply click that little X in the upper right of the window and move on with your life.

Anyway, back to me, once again, embarrassing my wife.

We decided to pop over to Petsmart yesterday, in search of food for our dog. Our dog has become insanely picky and refuses to eat, so we're throwing everything we can at him to try to provide variety if he's bored, nutrition based on the vet's recommendations due to some pancreatitis and liver/kidney issues, anything. Our hope is this, combined with a hunger stimulant provided by our vet, he hangs around for a few more years. He's 15, his two younger brothers died in the past 11 months, there's a new kid in the house, so it's been an absolute fucking shitshow for him for the past year.

We are approaching the checkout area, and I spy a good deal- a 10 gallon fish tank, filter, whole starter kit, for half price- $44.95. I've been wanting to get fish again for while now, and this was the perfect way to kick that off combined with fulfilling my horrible impulse purchasing habit. So I grab it, set it in the cart, go ahead and grab a few other things (gravel, automatic feeder, etc.)... literally everything but the fish.

We get in line, and, as has become customary with what seems like every other fucking retail interaction, we're hit with the "what's your phone number" question. No hi, no how are you, no go fuck yourself with a rusty pitchfork, just immediately hit up for some good old fashioned data mining by way of meatbag interface. Now... I'm not really one to provide this information to stores. And yes, I'm that asshole holding up your checkout line at the grocery store until they give me 35 cents off a loaf of bread without providing an email address, phone number, urine sample, or anything else they think they can sell to subsidize the "sale price". So, in this case, I simply provide "no, thank you" as a response so that I can buy the items in my cart, pay for them, and move on with my day. That's how retail should work. It's a transactional relationship between the supplier and the consumer to provide payment for goods or services by way of legal tender. Last time I checked, data is not legal tender. Cash, check, credit or debit card, all universally recognized payment methods. Some places may get into exotic things like whatever the latest scamCoin (R) is with crypto, but I'm not scanning a QR code and waiting 20 minutes for some blockchain ledger to pick up the transfer of magic internet money from me to them. Many times, I pay cash. Why? Because it's still semi-anonymous. Stores LOVE when you use your credit or debit card so they can build a shopper profile around that datapoint. Using a Wells Fargo debit card? You're likely to be lumped into a cohort of lower income individuals, especially if the ticket comes in below $50 and contains budget brands. This in turn is used to try to target you, and others in this cohort, with advertisements based on what they might consider a frictionless price- how much can they milk you for before you squirm. Using a high tier card like an AmEx Platinum, Black Card, or if you're stupid enough, a JP Morgan Private Client Debit Card, your going to be seen as more affluent, willing to spend more on both item count and premium brands.

Anyway, now that we've explained a bit how even using a credit or debit card can still come back to bite you in terms of data aggregation, the checkout lady hits me with the total, and of course the fucking fish tank starter kit comes up at the retail price, not the sale price on the tag.

"Oh, well that price is for our Treats customers only." Ok, cool, what is that (already knowing this is some data extraction or subscription scam)? She proceeds to tell me that, since I refused to provide a phone number at the beginning of this transaction, the price isn't the price on the tag, it's the retail price. Of course, I politely ask why they think this level of bait and switch is ok, why they feel entitled to extract personally identifiable information from customers in order to subsidize their products and refuse to honor the price clearly posted on the big "SALE" tag underneath the product. "Well that's just how it is, that's how this program works."

I asked for a manager, and stated I would like for them to honor the price they've advertised this product for sale for. Without even looking at a screen, calling, looking around, she makes eye contact with me and states "there is no manager." So, I have her go back and remove everything tied to the fish tank for this transaction- an additional $150 in items I wouldn't have otherwise purchased.

It's time to take a stand against data brokers. Start refusing to provide this information and demanding they honor the prices posted. If they refuse, abandon cart. Our local Jewel had $235 worth of cold and frozen items left to the care of the cashier the last time they refused to honor the prices they put up in the store. And to any company reading this thinking "we're onto you and we're replacing all of our price tags with digital ones", that's cool, you're gonna find out real quick how big of a fuck up that was, but we'll save that for another day.

It wasn't my intention to embarrass my wife, but it's her fault. She married me. But in all seriousness, I understand where she's coming from but complacency has only made this problem worse. It's time for folks to stand up to this bullshit. It's YOUR money, it's YOUR data they're stealing from you. Jewel is currently under fire here in Illinois for this bullshit, and they've backed off a bit on the whole "oh, you need our app to get 4 avocados for $5, otherwise it's $8 for two (minimum 4)." They're starting to creep back towards this level of customer hostility now that the news cycle has run, but we need to keep the pressure on. Otherwise, if you think the affordability crisis is bad now, just wait.