this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2026
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Mildly Infuriating

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Just bought a 2m section of flexible tube for a gas stove, and the sales clerk asked first for my phone number, to which I replied "I don't have one". Then she asked me for my name, to which I replied "I'll pay in cash". She then insisted it was so "the cashier will call you by name", to which I replied "I'm not giving you my name, I'll pay in cash". [Edit: she apparently got a bit upset when I refused to give info, but ended up entering "no name" according to the receipt]

Am I wrong for not wanting to give personal data for an item paid in cash, in person? No other hardware store ever asks me for my personal info.

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[–] EtherTide@aussie.zone 9 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Why do places have discounts for that number? Guessing you're american, I have no clue what that number is.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 30 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago

I hate that's where the hyphen is, my brain is strongly telling me it should be 8675-309

[–] EtherTide@aussie.zone 6 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Thanks. Why would that give a discount, though?

[–] Carl@anarchist.nexus 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

867-5309 is from a popular song in the 80's. The song is Jenny, by Tommy Twotone. The lyrics are about seeing some "For a good time, call Jenny 867-5309" graffiti on a dive bar bathroom stall. The singer, being drunk and lonely at the bar, decides to call the number on a whim. Since the song was popular and lists the digits as part of the chorus, it is easy to remember... Memes were a thing, even in the 80's before the internet. And basically any GenX person can recite the number, even decades later.

Which means it is commonly used as a fake number wherever you can make a loyalty account with only a phone number. So if the place has a loyalty/rewards system, the popular fake number probably has real rewards to be redeemed. I can usually get a few cents per gallon off at the gas station, for instance. Because with dozens of people using the same phone number all over town, the fake accounts quickly rack up loyalty rewards.

Sometimes called the Jenny Discount by those who use the number. Worst case scenario, you give the store a meme number and nothing happens.

[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago

I have used this in gas stations across multiple states over the past few decades. I don't know how much the discounts have added up to over that time but it has to be at least hundreds of dollars by now. It is kind of amazing how widespread that number gets used, it's probably the most popular phone number for these discount schemes by a wide margin.

[–] Concave1142@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lots of places have Reward Points for handing over your phone number. I've used Jenny's number for years to get discounted gas. Usually only $0.03 but one time I got $0.40 off per gallon.. been chasing that dragon ever since, lol.

[–] obviouspornalt@fedinsfw.app 10 points 1 day ago

it's the Jenny discount

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (4 children)

So, after that song rose in popularity, phone companies de-registered it entirely. Because it's a number that no-one has, my guess is that some stores/businesses use it as shorthand to put a discount under for something like employee discount or for "we messed up, here's a discount" discounts.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A bit odd, because the US is specifically the one country that definitely has an area code that's mostly reserved from civilian usage, i.e. 555. Although not all numbers in it are reserved, afaiu they aren't given to randos anyway, and the store's spam system could be set up to never text or call these numbers.

I once looked up if there are numbers that I could safely use for testing purposes in my country, and we only have numbers from old popular songs, which curiously were also later referenced in tv shows. But it's a toss-up as to whether they're definitely unregistered in any particular area code. I'll probably have to use ‘+1555...’ instead.

[–] sensation@sh.itjust.works 1 points 12 hours ago

+1(555)867-5309 :)

[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

So, after that song rose in popularity, phone companies de-registered it entirely

In my area code, the number was intentinally bought by a local guy who runs a small ISP. He has it connected to an answering machine that plays the song.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

Yeah. Apparently that's a thing. But there was a rise in prank calls that caused phone companies to just remove it from public use. But I guess that doesn't account for people or companies specifically requesting it.

[–] mystik@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I local plumber chain uses that number. YEARS ago they used to run a spot where they recited it with the same cadence of the song, but w/o the notes.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Apparently it's been used for other promotional things like a cancer helpline. I think that's pretty cool.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago
[–] EtherTide@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago

oh, that makes sense

[–] grue@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Because so many people use it that it racks up tons of loyalty points.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Companies want you to associate your transactions with a phone number so they have data on who is buying what. For instance if you go to Safeway it's common that the price of ice cream will be twice as expensive if you haven't registered a phone number with them. But you can give someone else's phone number that has already been registered and that will also work, or register a fake number, a number lots of people would have thought of is likely to have already been registered. At least that was how it worked last time I checked, that was a long time ago.

[–] EtherTide@aussie.zone 0 points 1 day ago

Oooh, not the store you're giving the number to, but you can buy that number from a carrier as a dummy number for a discount because no one wants it due to prank calls?

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Tommy Tutone had a hit in the '80s called 8-6-7-5-3-0-9, "Jenny".

Any gen-x can sing it with no effort.

I'm not American; just gen-x.

God damn, I grew up in the '80s and I would have sworn that was a Huey Lewis and the News song.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago

All the major chain stores have loyalty programs. They're really for tracking and marketing purposes, but they give discounts to incentivize participation. Most people just use the fake number for the regular discount.

But, these programs they also give rewards after a certain amount of spending. Rewards like 10c of per gallon of gasoline, or a free candy bar. With enough people using the same number for the discount, there are often a lot of rewards built up just waiting to be claimed.