out and about

We were in Best Buy tonight, so I could buy someone in my family a quasi-expensive gift for Christmas. In case they read my blog, I’m not going to say what exactly I was buying there, but I will say that it was something subscription related. Maybe that makes a difference in the story.

Anyhow, we get to the checkout, and they scan my items (also got Rainbow 6: Vegas for XBox 360 as a house gift) and then this screen pops up. The checkout girl asks for my name.
“Why do you need my name?”
Girl: “Uh, the system makes me do it.” So I grudgingly give it to her. “Can I also have your phone number?”
“What? Why would you need that?” I ask. She tells me that she can’t make the transaction unless I give her this information on the screen. Ryan and I discuss how ridiculous this is, but I finally give her my work number. Maybe it’s some weird registering thing with this device.
“Can I have your home address?” WHAT? Seriously?
“Uh, no. I don’t feel comfortable giving my address, and I really don’t see why they would need that information. Anyhow, this is a gift, I’m not the one keeping it.” She tried to back out of the screen, but sure enough… it took the item off the list of things I was buying. However, when she tried again and went back into the screen, all the empty lines had “UNKNOWN” filled in. We just told her to leave it like that, and it went through.
Then with a smile, I said “Sorry, I’m in witness protection. It’s complicated.”

But why? Why do they need my name, address, and phone number? Especially when it’s going to be given as a gift? It seems very unnecessary.