Not everyone is comfortable sharing their personal information when it seems unnecessary.

So, what would you do if a cashier refused to complete your purchase unless you gave your phone number, even though you were paying cash? Would you just give a number and move on? Or would you put your money away and walk out?

In the following story, one man encounters this situation and decides to cancel the purchase. Here’s his story.

AITA for refusing to give a cashier my phone number and leaving without buying my items because of it?

This was at Maurice’s, which is a clothing store. I’d never shopped there before and wasn’t planning on going back again, even if this hadn’t happened.

I have this thing for squirrels, I just really like them, and I saw online they’re selling these cute socks with squirrels knitted on them. I thought I’d save on shipping and just go to the store to buy some since it was close to where I was running other errands.

When I went to pay, I set the two pairs of socks and a twenty-dollar bill on the counter. The cashier asked for a phone number, and I said something like I don’t really use a phone number.

The woman kept pressing for a number.

She made some kind of awkward faces at me like I was causing her physical pain and said if I give them my phone number, it can give me discounts for next time, etc, and I said no thanks.

I know a lot of cashiers have to ask this and hate it, and it should go without saying that I was polite. But she stared at me for a few seconds and grimaced again, then gestured at the register and said she couldn’t ring up the items without a phone number.

I’ve been asked for my number before, but I’d never had a cashier refuse to let me pay without it. Especially since I was paying in cash. I was sort of stunned, and I wasn’t sure what else to say, so I just said okay and picked up my twenty-dollar bill and walked out.

His friend was a little confused.

My friend came with me but waited in the car, and when I came back empty-handed and told her what happened, she was confused why I didn’t just give them my number, or at least a fake number.

As we talked about it, I started to feel like maybe I’d been a little dramatic and confrontational, making things needlessly difficult for the cashier.

I’m not especially protective of my info, and I do give it all the time when I shop online.

Now, he’s feeling a bit ashamed.

But I understand why they need it in that case, so they can contact you if there’s an issue. I didn’t like giving it for no reason, and when she refused to take no for an answer, I guess I dug my heels in.

I don’t really regret it. I’d rather not give the store my number than have the socks.

But I also feel kind of embarrassed and a little ashamed when I think about the whole back-and-forth, the way the cashier kept looking at me like I was causing trouble, and walking away with my items left on the counter, like I made a big deal over nothing.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see why he did this, but it does seem kinda dramatic.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit think about the whole thing.

According to this reader, he did nothing wrong.

This could be why she was like that.

According to this person, she may have had bad training.

This reader would’ve used fake info.

Hey, it’s his prerogative!

Apparently, the socks weren’t that awesome, or he would’ve just shared the phone number.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.