I was helping this lady in my store, telling her about the awesome clearance sale we were testing and everything. I go to ring her up and she refuses to put in her email address which is fine, cause it's optional. Then she busts out this whopper of a line. "It's illegal for you to require my email address for discounts."

Baffled, I said, "uh, no it's not. Also your email isn't required."

"Well you shouldn't have to get my info to give me discounts." Uh, I'm gonna go with NO here. You see, my store kind of has customers that stop shopping here after a certain age and it's easier (read: cheaper) to have the customer sign up for our mailers periodically instead of mailing out thousands of fliers to parents whose kids are too old for the store.

Also, it is not illegal. So there.

That reminds me of the lady who screamed at me that because the Government knows how much money she makes she doesn't have to give me that information. Because I work for the Government. And the CARD Act doesn't require annual income on credit applications any more or anything....

Look, I get it, frustrating having to say no to every damned sales pitch that gets tossed your way at every store. But there is no excuse for being an utter bitch to me. None. YOU walked in my store, and decided to buy something. And my job is to sell you those things regardless of whether or not you think you need them. I'm not gonna badger you about it. But I find myself recoiling after I say the words, "go ahead and enter in your email for me" and expecting a bitchy reply every single time.

I often wonder how likely it is that people don't have email addresses in this day and age. Maybe it's because I've had an email address since I was 17, but I just don't understand how people this day and age don't have one. Is it really that uncommon? Is this a privilege that I have?