Why Does Cabela's Want My Phone Number?

A few years ago, I started getting a ridiculous amount of spam phone calls. Automatic machines offering cruises, credit card companies trying to offer the Har-JAW-LAAAAAAAHS a new lower-interest VISA, and several calls from foreigners that I couldn't understand (and that I hung up on). I was getting several phone calls to my cell phone everyday, all day. First thing in the morning, before my alarm went off, while in class, and just before bed.

Not only that, I started getting catalogs and credit card offers through the mail.

It took a while for me to put the pieces together and answer the question, "What did I do?"

I know I had opened a Maurices store card, but that's it. Nothing out of the ordinary, no browsing on website and entering into travel sweepstakes. No signing up for any special offers... So I googled something along the lines of "Suddenly getting a lot of telemarketers calling my cell phone." I quickly found the only plausible reason--I had given out my phone number at Maurices, and most likely every store in my area.

Gamestop for sure, JC Penney, Shopko and all of the grocery stores around. Whenever I'd got to Marquette, nearly everyone asked, and I gave it. In the UP, it's common for cashiers to hear your number and ask where you're from. And if you're local, or they recognize the first three numbers, they'll ask you about your area. The entire UP is area code 906, the cities of Houghton/Hancock are 487, 482, 483... If you're from Chassell, 523. If you have Verizon, 281. So it's habit for everyone to just give their number. Chances are, the cashier will say "I have a cousin from Calumet!" and a conversation will spur from there.

But my research showed that when you give your zip code, email address, or phone number to a store for "demographics" or "newsletters," it's really going into a pool of information that merchants can take advantage of. That zip code you just gave them with your name is like handing them your entire address and life history in a portfolio, with instructions on how to exploit your information. Yes, please call my phone at all hours. I'd love to get junk mail from your friends.


(See the article, "Should you tell stores your zip code?" via NBCNews.com)

So I stopped giving out information. A semi-polite "no, thank you" and I'd be on my way.

This past weekend, I went to Cabela's in Tulalip, WA with my husband to spend some of his birthday money. I'd gone there several times in the past few months to get a few gifts, and my "no, thank you" worked just fine. It's just for demographics, they say. I'd rather not, I say.

But on Saturday, my husband had found nearly $100 worth of feathers and hooks and fly line that he had to have, even after doing the same thing only a few days prior. (Too much money spent at Cabela's!). The girl rang up the total, and asked for my phone number, and I said "Oh, no" while trying to swipe my card. She stopped me from sliding my card and said that she had to have the number.

I told her that it's just for demographics, and I'd rather not give out that information. She told me that it's just a phone number, and that she couldn't let me buy anything without it. I started to explain that a phone number attached to a name and credit card is like handing over my identity, and she interrupted me to say again that I wouldn't not be able to buy anything unless I gave her the info. She then started pushing buttons on the intercom, trying to get a manger to come over. I told her that I'd come to this store many times without any problems, have a Cabela's card, have spent a ridiculous amount of money there... And she spoke over me to instruct me that those cashiers must have been new hires and it's required. By this time, she looked to be shaking with annoyance and wouldn't even make eye contact. She kept repeating, "Just give me the number!"

My husband is not one to stand up for things. He doesn't like petty arguments and is really forgiving.

I'm not like that.

He didn't want to cause a scene and gave this woman MY PHONE NUMBER so that we could escape. She had just turned to face me, looking about ready to beat me in the face if I didn't give her the number and he caved. Of course then, I couldn't believe he'd do that after my persistence, and wanted to SHAKE HIM (among other things).

Minutes later, I called the store and got in touch with Customer Service. I told them what happened, that this woman (by name) refused to let me spend money without my phone number. She wouldn't let me slide my card. She wouldn't let me leave the store. Of course they apologized, told me I was right, asked for her name, etc.

But I've never felt so humiliated, so mistreated, and so shocked while shopping before. I spent my Saturday to enjoy Ladies Day Out at Cabela's, entered sweepstakes and won a few things, only to get talked down to by a cashier who would rather rip my hair out than let me leave the store without my personal information.

I need to come up with a fake identity.

Best Jobs In America

Best Jobs In America. This is what they should hand out to incoming freshmen!

If you could do it all over again, which would you be?

[caption id="attachment_293" align="alignnone" width="600"] Best Jobs In America[/caption]

Don't Quit Your Day Job

It's nearing December and I know now that satisfaction in my career probably won't come to me any time soon. Part of it is not knowing what I want out of life and my future, the other part is fear that once I find it, I won't be able to achieve it.

For over a year I was pleased with my freelancing efforts. I got to stay at home, I got to sleep in and make my own schedule. I got to move cross-country without worrying about finding a job when I got there. Everything I created while working was mine, every success was mine. I was stressed out,  focused on my clients constantly, but when I provided good work, I got instant feedback and support. The possibilities in freelance work are endless when you're good at what you do, be it writing, design, or even tech support.

After my contract with Blue Volcano ended, and work for Firestarter slowed down to trickles and bursts of random tasks, I knew I needed something regular. If only to please my money-conscious husband. So for the first time in a long time, I entered the mass of job seekers. This time, in Portland. I went to career fairs and was bombarded with sales positions, I went on Craigslist and was stricken with  automotive service writing positions, and was so annoyed that I got a LinkedIn JobSeeker membership to contact employers directly. It took a week and I ended up at Bonfire. After a month of great work and praise, I was on the jobseeking hunt again.

Only this time it wasn't a hunt. More like an angry, wandering prowl through websites and doubtful possibilities. I didn't want to go through job loss again. I didn't want to fail again. I didn't want to put myself into that position again, in a small agency where my job could be dissolved without cause. I didn't want to take a contract that could be over tomorrow because the employer ran out of money.

There's a job that I've wanted for months. Technical Writer at my husband's company. They're paid fairly, it's stable, and there are so many employees that there's room to grow.

It's been clear to me that no matter what I do, how many people I contact, how many times I contact the recruiter, they're not hiring any more writers. They're looking for engineers. Another slap in the face with my degree.

So where am I now? Really hating myself for taking a job that I really didn't want in the first place for a paycheck. A meager, sliced up one at that with all the taxes and insurance payments that I didn't have to worry about before. I'm not using my brain at all, I feel pretty stupid and it's been barely a month since I started doing data entry in a cube. I feel even more stupid knowing that I'm the laughingstock of the office because I took this job with my stellar resume.

I'm kind of hurt, and lost at the moment. Trying to figure out what I want out of my career, so I can go after it, and leave this grey box of click...ctrl+C...click...ctrl+V.

Freelancers: You're Not Invincible

As a freelancer, it's easy to think that you can do anything. This is especially true when you've never failed on a project, have met all of your deadlines, and have been blessed with great clients.

Up until yesterday, I was pretty confident that if it had to do with writing, or social media, I was on it. I've done alright on oDesk and have taken on some big contracts for companies all over the country. But I had a contract practically handed to me in a Skype interview, and it just didn't feel right to accept it.

When you get an assignment for something that you aren't exactly qualified for, you have two choices. One, you can take it on and research like a crazy person to prepare for it. Or two, you can admit that you can't do it and move on.

I was so confident that I could take this contract as a Research Analyst that I pitched the guy everything I had. I matched the description perfectly, and I made a stellar impression. Then he explained the job, and the scope of it... just astounded me. I've done social media work before, managed entire accounts on my own, but I specialize in content and communities. So when he asked for projection plans and budgets, I was quick to point out that I'd not had the opportunity to control that side of an account before. He was so confident that I could make it happen that he said not to over-think it, and to get him a plan by the next day. I would be writing all the posts for the blog and social media, as well as managing the advertising and publicizing of the product. I'd track everything, propose costs and execute... Everything.

Now, I know people who do this kind of thing on a regular basis. One of my previous employers (Blue Volcano Media) can take an account already knowing the time frames and costs to get X amount of followers by X date. It's not rocket science once you've done it a few times, but I haven't! I've worked for a company like this where the goal of the account is to get followers and make sales, not to increase engagement and interaction with the brand. I wrote it about it in my blog post Social Media Marketing as a Science. Sadly, my part in that company was as a Community Manager, not as a strategist or scientist.

I signed out of the interview with the potential employer raving about my talents, and how much he trusted that I could get this done. It was fee-based, or fixed-priced, though, so I had to come up with how much to charge. I actually don't have the slightest idea of what to charge most of the time, so I asked for a ballpark price from a friend. That's when it really sunk in: I can't do it.

I'm not afraid of failure and I'm not afraid of turning down an account, but it was so hard letting this guy down. He was excited, but I had to tell him that I didn't have the experience needed for his project and would have to withdraw my application. He then switched tactics, asking for me to only do the research and writing aspect of it. Once I get the courage to turn something down, I'm pretty blocked off from it, so I had to do it again and explain that research and writing is so tied to the marketing side of things that it'd be best to hire someone who can do it all, or be prepared to have a team on it.

Not only was it best for me to turn this job down, even being as jobless as I am, it was better for the employer and his vision.

Hootsuite Analytics Tutorial

One of my first tasks as a Social Media Specialist was to create a tutorial for Hootsuite Analytics. I'd only just started using HootSuite for monitoring social media, let alone for tracking statistics, so who was I to create a presentation to be shown to clients?

I love Prezi. I can do anything on Prezi. I can create a presentation and think through the process with Prezi. When I'm given a task to make a PowerPoint, I run to Prezi to conceptualize it, plan it out, and get everything I want into it. There is nothing like being free of slides and just spreading out in an online space.

So I came up with this tutorial. Looking through it now, it's very simplified and dated, and almost comes off as a Social Media for Dummies lesson plan. It's very step by step and perfect for a business owner just venturing into Insights and scheduling tools like HootSuite, RavenTools, and Time.ly.