Ask HN: Best way to respond to “What is your name?” | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Best way to respond to “What is your name?”

1 pointcoreyp_13 comments

Perhaps I'm just tilting at windmills, but does anyone else think that it's stupid/annoying/pandering/insincere/invasive for a business to want to put your name into their database when it is not necessary?

Why does Burger King ask for your name when you order a burger? AT THE DRIVE-THRU!?!? The same goes for Taco Bell. THE TACO DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW MY NAME! Your company doesn't need to know my name in order to give me a haircut. Harbor Freight, I don't need to give you my name (and phone#, and address) to buy a screwdriver, even though you ask me for them THREE TIMES during the same checkout. I don't care about your loyalty programs. I'll keep the receipt if I need to return it. The list goes on and on...

I don't want to be rude to the person behind the counter; they are just doing their job. But how do I express to the company how UTTERLY infuriating it is becoming to be constantly prodded.

The simple answer is to just not go to those places. Which means that now I have to cut my own hair, grow and cook my own food, build my own tools, and never buy anything ever again. Surely there is a better solution!

Here are some options f you don't want to use corvallis's suggestion.

"John Smith, 123 Main St."

Back when Radio Shack started doing this, my Dad like to give them the store's own address.

There's no reason to give your legal name. Some hikers have trail names - you can have a business name.

Say, "I'm visiting from overseas. I live in Germany. My address is Willy-Brandt-Straße 1, 10557 Berlin and my phone number is country code 49, then 180 272 00 00." Or use a UK address so you can give them a post code lik "SW1A 2AA".

There are phone numbers like http://rejectionline.com/copycat.html which are used to be given to people pestering for your number.

The main reason I know of for asking for a name is to reduce mixups in ordering. For that they only need a relatively unique token. You could give them a new name each time.

The main reason I know of for collecting zip code/address is for marketing purposes, either to gather demographic information, or for advertising.

> Why does Burger King ask for your name when you order a burger? AT THE DRIVE-THRU!?!? The same goes for Taco Bell. THE TACO DOES NOT NEED TO KNOW MY NAME!

Must be trying to make sure that they give the right order to the right person. I don't think that this is pernicious. I also suspect that it's ephemeral data unlikely to be used for much beyond the scope of this location on this day.

> Harbor Freight, I don't need to give you my name (and phone#, and address) to buy a screwdriver

They only ask me once and I usually decline with "no thanks" and the transaction occurs without much friction.

I just say “I’d rather not give you my personal information.” The transaction is completed without issue. Try it, it’s much easier than cutting your own hair and growing your own food.

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