Safeway Club Card
Safeway Club Card. I need one for the discounts, but I hate the idea of my every purchase being subjected to Safeway's data mining.
Jacob's first idea was to swap Safeway Club Cards with our friends. This would have worked, if I actually used the physical card. Instead, I found it was much easier to use the phone number associated with the Safeway Club Card. So Jacob suggested we register a bogus phone number, and let anyone use it. This would thwart Safeway's data mining!
The obvious phone number was 987-654-3210. Easy to remember. Hard to forget. So he registered it, successfully, and I used it for several months. So did many others, until Safeway caught on to us and cancelled the card.
Boo, Safeway!
We re-registered, and the number worked for a month. Then it was cancelled.
Boo, Safeway! We gave up. Many years passed.
Recently, I tried the number again. 987-654-3210. And it worked! As I accepted my change, the clerk said (as they do) "Thank you, Mizzzz..." He scrutinized the receipt. "Mizz Balz... onya?"
That's another rant, in and of itself. In a small store, the clerk might know your name, and thank you personally. But it's ludicrous to force the clerks of a large store to stare at the receipt and try to pronounce your name. "Mizzz... Mizzz..." I never help them, what do I care?
After I left, I looked to see who had registered this number.
Harry Balzonya.
At least the icky was discreet!