Retail Stores and Phone Numbers

We teach our children not to give out things like name, address, phone numbers to strangers. The other day, my 10-year-old daughter wanted to buy a present for her friend at Justice. She picked it out and went up to the counter to pay. The cashier asked for her phone number, my daughter told her no. The cashier then looks at me (I was standing a few feet behind her) and asks for the phone number.

I said, "She's a kid."

Cashier said, "Well, she's with you, right?"

I replied, "She's the one buying the item."

Cashier starts getting nasty. "Don't you have a home phone?"

I was getting irritated at this point. "She's a kid. She's buying this with her own money. She knows not to give out this kind of information to strangers. You should respect that."

We glare at each other for a minute and she finally loudly types something into the computer/register thing and rings up the purchase.

The funny part of this is I usually give my phone number to kids' places like Justice so I get the coupons. But, this lady had me so irritated, there was NO WAY I was going to give it to her at that point. My mother who was also shopping with us and waiting behind us to make her purchases NEVER gives out her number. She just tells them no. I always roll my eyes at her when she does this. If I'm with her and it's a place I like, I'll give them my number...but this...this was principle. The cashier never should have gotten nasty over the fact that a CHILD was protecting herself like she was taught.

So, when my mother went to pay, the cashier looked at her and said, "I suppose you don't have a home phone either."

My mother said, "No, I live out of state."

Cashier growled and punched something into the computer/register again.

So, WHY do they need it so bad? Do they get paid a commission for how many phone numbers they get? What if you don't have a home phone? Just a cell phone? Do they get an address for you from that to send coupons to? If they call your cell phone, they might use some of your minutes. I don't want random texts from some store. (Yes, I do have unlimited texting and I haven't ever gone over my minutes, but ya never know, it could happen.)

Shouldn't these stores teach their employees not to harass children for a number? And to respect anyone who doesn't want to give out their number?