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Please Don’t Make Me Download Another App | Our phones are being overrun
(www.theatlantic.com)
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this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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My favorite part of the 30 day dumb phone challenge I did recently: I couldn't install your crappy app even if I wanted to.
A little over halfway through the challenge, was paying for my order at a local eatery, and the cashier started plugging their new app and rewards points and digital coupons and shit. I was like "I'm gonna stop you right there: flip phone." and pulled it out of my pocket and brandished it like I was the sheriff of Luddite-ville.
Kinda like this, but "Flip phone!"
I just tell them 'no'.
That's what I used to do, but a good portion of the time they'd continue their spiel to try to change my mind. Have only had to brandish the dumb phone once, but so far it's got a 100% shut down success rate.
I just tell them I don’t have a phone. Even if I’m still holding it in my hand. Most don’t want to engage. They likely figure they’re not payed enough for that.
Same.
Cashier: "What's your phone number?" (For the store tracking/rewards/whatever)
Me : "Don't have one!" (As I remove the credit card from the case on the back of myphone)
Nobody has questioned it once. They don't want to ask in the first place but are forced to.
Huh. Doesn't happen often I guess but typically when I'm asked for a phone number or email I refuse or say I don't have one and it really throws people off and they usually refuse to complete the form or do whatever the hell it was they were doing.
Might vary by locale? Around here (South US) it seems like every single store has their own rewards/discount/whatever system that requires your phone number but it's not necessary for the transaction... It's just an extra info grab.
Sometimes the user facing POS/credit card reader will let you handle it (enter/skip) but many places rely on the salesperson to ask and then enter it or skip.
But, I also don't get around much so my experience is limited.
Just say 'no thank you'
and sounds like more fun!
Not gonna lie, it was. lol. That's one of several reasons I decided to keep it as my daily driver. It's technically a smart phone, though, I just had all the smart stuff disabled for that challenge. I've since enabled those back, but it still looks enough like a dumb phone that I can convincingly bluff with it.
Which phone is it? Might have to check it out.
Cat S22 Flip. Not without it's quirks, but I like it well enough. Had to digital detox, and it was great for that.
What apps do you have on it? Maybe some stuff like email or messaging app like Signal?
Thunderbird beta (email), Schildichat (Matrix), bank app, several local web apps (home assistant, etc), Mucke (music), key mapper, Aegis (totp authenticator), Organic Maps, Etar (Calendar), DAVx (contact/calendar sync), traditional T9 (keyboard), MALP and Snapcast (home audio)
Damn that's actually a good chunk
Lol, yeah. Covers pretty much all of my needs and most of my "wants". Even have a Lemmy app (web based) on there.
Where are you shopping where you are routinely encountering cashier's that are this pushy about the apps? The overwhelming majority of cash register attendance are underpaid employees that are just trying to get you through the line. They said the line because they have to say the line, but most have no intention of really trying to sell you on it.
Once upon A time, these things were just rewards programs, with the key ring bullshit. Were you signing up for each and every one of them too?
Yeah........try that in CVS.
And then a Kill Bill-esque fight scene breaks out. You know, like when she fought the crazy 88s. Except instead of a group of ninjas headed by a 14 year old Japanese girl, it's a group of swat team members headed by a 17 year old CVS register worker wearing a red CVS vest that he uses as a choking hazard on you in the fight.
Your goal is to dodge bullets, matrix style, while disarming one guard to shoot the rest of the guards dead, so you can fight this CVS employee one on one, as wave after wave of reinforcements constantly change the dynamic of the battle.
Finally, after defeating all the guards, you return to your car to return home, and as you make your turn onto the main road, thats when you see it. A world war 2 era tank firing mortors at you, as you're forced to weave all over the road. Other cars exploding, you're all over the road, a helicopter has joined the chase. Suddenly the helicopter is firing air to surface missles, and as you dodge them, they blow up the tank.
The helicopter then lands right in front of you on the highway. As you prepare for the final battle, the door opens it's your wife. You both embrace, and take off in the helicopter. Forever on the lamb. Always running from the threat of CVS employees that can strike at any time.
I don't go to CVS because they make the whole experience exhausting.
May I introduce you to RadioShack? Where they used to prompt you to sign up for a credit card, ask to record your personal info on a RadioShack loyalty card system (that nobody seems to remember), and one time, the lady asked me to impregnate her. I'm unclear if that was RadioShack policy, or if she was just itching. Either way it was kind of messed up, because I was 14. I looked and sounded older, but I was 14. She was like 30ish.
Gonna just leave us hanging on this one?
I stopped going to Radio Shack when they made purchasing a hassle too. Loved them as a kid in the 80s when I was doing build your own electronics.
What on earth are you people talking about?
I go to CVS all the time for random things, I've never once been pushed to use an app, nor have I ever encountered anyone that is legitimately pushing you to do anything after a simple no.
Really? You never used kung-fu to disarm swat teams, killing dozens with their own guns, while never taking damage yourself? You never sped through your local streets as tanks shot mortors at your toyota geo?
You're telling me your wife never saved you with rockets fired from a helicopter in a high speed highway chase?
Yeah........you didn't read a single sentence of the comment you replied to, did you? Aw hell. What makes me think you'll read THIS far into the message??? Tiktok is just what this generation has been needing. An entire generation of kids who don't waste their time reading!
I...is the implication you would have no other choice but to install their app if you didn't have a flip phone?
I'm baffled by these comments. Who the hell is actually listening to these people and installing apps on their phone just because a cashier mentioned it?
It's not that they're going to convince me, it's that it's annoying they keep trying (likely by management)