Yeah, I can be an [insert slang term for the sphincter here]

I went for a (long overdue) haircut today, stopping at the Holiday Hair chain shop on Route 443. Yeah, I know: our host will excoriate me for not using a traditional barber shop, but the only one of those in the area of which I’m aware really doesn’t do a very good job; Elaine complained about my last haircut there.

Well, after getting a decent cut from the absolutely babelicious stylist there — early twenties, blonde, with nice cleavage — I went to pay, and she asked me for my last name. “You don’t need my last name,” I replied.

“But I can’t process your payment without it.”

Fortunately, the manager was right there, and showed her how to do it, because she was clearly flustered that I’d refuse such a simple request. I suppose that I could have said my last name was Hitchcock or something, just like I could respond “12345” every time they ask me at Home Despot for my zip code, but no, I refuse to do that; I want to make a point that my name or my zip code is not necessary for them to cut my hair or sell me some lumber.

At one point, at Home Despot, I finally had to ask the check-out girl if she was going to refuse to sell me the merchandise I had selected if I refused to provide my zip code, after she had made more than one request and said she couldn’t have processed the sale without it. Had she answered that she couldn’t sell it to me, I’d have simply left the merchandise right there, walked straight over to the mismanager, and told him why he was losing the sale. But, somehow she found that yes, she actually could make the sale without my zip.

I want to encourage everyone who gets these intrusive requests not to comply, and not to give bogus answers just to move matters along; I want to encourage everybody to be an [insert slang term for the sphincter here] when it comes to this nosy stuff.
_________________________________
Cross posted on Common Sense Political Thought