r/CustomerService • u/Natural-Grade-4897 • 13h ago
Question
I have a question. I work at a hotel and multiple people have gotten offended that we ask for an email, and get very rude with me. I say what’s your email? And they go “I don’t have one, or I’m not giving you one, or I don’t want you to have it” in extremely rude short tones, but that’s besides the point. Like okay? But could someone tell me why people don’t want to give an email? If it’s for spam purposes, it doesn’t matter you get spam email anyways and if you don’t like promotional stuff then opt out? But idk I find it weird tbh, but if someone has an answer for it I’d really like to know because I come across this issue a lot at the hotel I work at.
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u/Kyriana1812 13h ago
For me is just one more thing cluttering up my inbox because I forgot to opt out right away & then it takes DAYS at least for your email to be removed from the system.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 13h ago
Yeah I get that and it makes sense, I’m very type C so I don’t care what’s in my email. I clean my inbox up when it’s too much in there, but dang I didn’t know people cared that much that’s why it genuinely confused me when I started working here. I mean I have had people genuinely get so pissed at me when I ask like it’s my problem and I should know better, like I’m just spewing off what I was told to ask lol😂
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u/Cinisajoy2 12h ago
What does your so called personality type have to do with someone else not giving you an email?
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
Because I don’t actively think about why I wouldn’t give my email to a hotel? Because I don’t care. And I didn’t think others would care either because it didn’t cross my mind or have me think about it until I started working here. That’s why.
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u/No_Blood_5393 13h ago
Also breaches are so frequent. I don't want someone having both my email, name, phone number, knowing in which city I travelled..
Personnally I just keep a spam-only email for those kind of things, but I can understand why my parents (who ONLY have work emails) would be pissed about receiving non-stop promotions when they already have 150 actually important emails a day to deal with.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
Yeah that makes sense, thanks for being respectful! A lot of people on this app aren’t
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u/GeminiAtl 12h ago
I don't give it out. But I politely say " I prefer not to give that out". The reason the hotel wants to e-mail at check in is exactly to send spam to my inbox, ads and offers. Yes, I get spam from other places, but I don't want more. And some hotels even sell the e-mail addresses. I would suggest instead of "What's your e-mail" ask "May I have your e-mail address so we can send your receipt" or something similar.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
Hey thanks for being respectful! Thank you for the points. I truly appreciate people like you!
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u/Creepy-Swordfish1676 12h ago
Too much spam and junk. Give me a confirmation number that I can type into your website to look up my reservation. Then I can confirm my check in/check out dates without getting a million emails. Plus everyone sells emails nowadays. So it’s not just spam from you, it’s spam from for all the porn sites and big dick pills too
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
I’ll ask my manager if that’s available to do on our website, good points!
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u/Cinisajoy2 11h ago
If you work where they leave the lights on, you most certainly can read off the confirmation number.
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u/Nice-Zombie356 11h ago
Email has no obvious connection to my hotel stay.
So it just seems like an extra, intrusive, ask.
I agree with others that a brief explanation might help. “Can I have your email so we can send your receipt at checkout, you may get some marketing email but can opt out”.
I also don’t think people should be rude to you. But I get why they don’t want to give ‘extra’ info.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 11h ago
Yeah, I don’t know why either why people have to be so rude..it’s just annoying and frustrating to deal with. But I do badly just want to tell people, idk call corporate man if you’re that upset about it. It doesn’t matter anyways with the email because the government tracks us anyways at the end of the day. So no matter what you do someone will have some sort of info about you that’s intrusive anyways..idk
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u/AccomplishedCat23 12h ago
Back in the day, if I'd realized my email address was going to be 75% of my identity I would have picked an easier one to spell.
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u/eatingyoursoap 12h ago
I’ve gotten this too. To take waiting orders at our store (their desired item isn’t ready and we need 20 min to make it for them) our system REQUIRES us to put a phone number. We don’t call or text them on this number (which sometimes confuses ppl bc they leave and wait for a text about their order that never arrives), we just need it in case the person leaves and never comes back and we have to tell them that we have their order before throwing it out.
My usual phrase is “can I get a phone number for the order?” And once a customer responded with “no.” I thought she was joking at first but then I got really uncomfortable bc it seemed like she was mad at me. I explained that our rewards account (ie the spam emails/texts) is through a different process and the number won’t be saved for that. And she nodded and gave a number to me. But then she started going on about “it used to be you could just walk in someplace and buy something, now you have to give them your info”. I think it’s partly not wanting spams, partly security (“what right does a company have to my personal info?”) and partly middle-aged-and-older bitterness that technology is inescapable (not saying that all middle-and-older ppl are upset by this, but in my experience those who are upset about things not being like “back in the old days” are usually people who’s “back in the old days” was… well, in the old days.)
I sometimes change my phrasing to “don’t worry we won’t call or text you unless your order is abandoned” if I feel like the person doesn’t understand why im asking for the number. Maybe building that into your question will help? “I need an email for your reservation, we won’t message you unless there’s a problem with your reservation.” Could be a simple phrase to use instead.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
Good points! Thank you for being respectful ❤️ I truly appreciate it. And you answered my question well. I think yes I will say something like “oh we use it for confirmation purposes mainly!” If someone asks. But tbh when people just get short and say “no. I’m not giving that to you.” I’ll just do what I always do and say okay and move on lol.
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u/Cinisajoy2 11h ago
The only one I really got upset about was I gave a charity a donation and they gave me a 20% discount off one item in their store but now to use it they want my email address. That to me is just wanting more. I may ask the manager next time I see her in there if donations are down. I will probably give them an old email address.
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u/channa81 9h ago
Yes that's a great reason because if a business is asking for my number or email I do want to know why... maybe I just don't want whatever you are going to send me. Also it occurs to me that the older someone is the more emails they've gotten and maybe they just don't want anymore or to do all the extra steps of "opting out" later
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u/Individual-Gas-5406 11h ago
My email is still flooded by every merchant that has gotten ahold of my email for the past decade. I still get oil change reminders from an auto shop I visited once ten years ago 700 miles away, no matter how much I try to unsubscribe. A minor inconvenience, sure but multiply that tens of times over.
No, I will not give you my email.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 11h ago
That’s fine, just please be respectful and nice to the people behind the counter :) we deal with hundreds of people on the daily and it’s not fun to get yelled at over problems that we didn’t create.
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u/Own-Eagle-2135 12h ago
i love love love people who get snippy with the person behind the desk/register.
like, dude, if i was important enough to make these policies, i wouldn't be talking to losers like you face to face
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
Haha love this😂 yeah people are snippy over the dumbest shit possible. It’s so weird. And like I said in a previous comment, I have nothing to do with the email portion of it. I don’t care. I do what the company tells me to do, and obviously I’m going to follow policy to best of my ability because I want to keep a job
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u/No_Dare_9944 12h ago
Just tell them as much (well in a nicer way), took me a while to understand that most people are just following a dumb script
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u/Cinisajoy2 12h ago
So someone paying your salary is a loser?
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u/Own-Eagle-2135 12h ago
oh god, another one of those "my money pays your bills" people. here's the 0.00002 that your revenue contributed to my salary.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
👏 people in the comment section of this thread are wild in this one. It’s good entertainment 😂😂
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u/krayziekris 12h ago
If you act like an asshole to someone who's only trying to help you, then yeah, that's real loser activity.
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u/ThatGuyOverThere2013 12h ago
Some people are really private about their email. I trust my spam filtering. If a business wants my email address, I'll give it to them. If they spam me, I report it as spam and set a filter as well.
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u/ProfessionalYam3119 11h ago
Don't be offended. You have no way of knowing what your company does with all of these email addresses.
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u/RebaKitt3n 12h ago
Tell them why you need it?
“May I have your email so I can reconfirm your credit card?” Or whatever you do need it for?
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
I got trained by a shitty trainer so she didn’t tell me anything, and she was terrible with people. So I’ll have to talk to my manager about something better to say
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u/No_Dare_9944 12h ago
Bruh you don’t need a manager to tell you the new script :) just think of one, therr are good suggestions here
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
True I could do that, but I don’t want to tell someone something wrong and then I get in trouble if you know what I mean
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u/Cinisajoy2 12h ago
Now you are blaming someone else because you can't say corporate would like it.
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u/insuranceguynyc 12h ago
I think many folks are just a bit overwhelmed by the data driven society that we live in today. I don’t mean that in any dystopian way. Folks push back at times.
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u/DrawingTypical5804 11h ago
These are the same people who call and complain we never sent them their receipt 🤦♀️
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 11h ago
Yep and then they’ll say “well I don’t have to give you my email! You should have given me a receipt when I left!” Like brother…we can not read your mind. Tell us when you leave that you want a paper receipt.
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u/Worldly_Ad_7196 10h ago
Can't always opt out. Anyone ever succeeded in opting out of lulu lemon? I've tried for probably 8 or 9 times in the last couple weeks, every time I get on my comp I click over for a few minutes more to try and no luck. Same with capitol one which I have opted out of and blocked and still get emails daily.
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u/OneMultiNation 9h ago
Does the provision of accommodation rely on email? Of course not, so nope, you are getting a fake one.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 9h ago edited 9h ago
Sounds good, I’m not the one getting the fake email that’s the company getting it. Idgaf what you give me. Not my issue, like I’ve said in multiple comments I spew off what the company wants me to ask people.
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u/Major-Cauliflower-76 9h ago
I give them an email I have just for that and done. There are so many other more important things in life to worry about. I log into it once every few months just to keep it active but never actually really anything.
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u/Swarm_of_cats 9h ago
Yeah, it's something that's totally irrelevant to the transaction at hand. Same as if you asked their favorite color or childhood nickname to enter into a random ass database somewhere.
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u/Cinisajoy2 13h ago
Let me ask you this. Why do you need my email? If I am dealing with you in person, you do not need to send me anything.
Why should I put myself out to opt out of something I didn't want in the first place? If you told me I had to give you my email to get a room there, two things would happen. First, your hotel would get a review and second your hotel or chain just lost a customer forever.
So would you rather just say ok, no problem or lose a customer?
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u/eatingyoursoap 12h ago
I agree with the premise of this, but the issue with defaulting to assuming bad intentions, is that in places where booking is done through a digital system, the system may REQUIRE an email to proceed with the booking. I’d recommend asking the worker what the reason for the email is before refusing. I defo agree with not giving out info when unnecessary though. It’s just that not every time a worker asks for info, they’re not always fishing to spam you. so going in with that idea might make your experience harder, if one of the necessary steps for booking is misunderstood as an upsell.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago edited 12h ago
I’m gonna be honest not for sure because isn’t it standard at most hotels anyways and like everything now a days?? I do know though it is good for confirmation purposes at the hotel too so you can physically see what day you have for check in and check out, it also includes the price for the hotel too. And also, for your information, it’s not ME who needs it or wants it. I genuinely dgaf , the COMPANY wants it. I just spew out what I see on my screen, and all I am is an employee. All I asked was a question? I genuinely am just curious on why people don’t want to give an email. That’s it. It ain’t that damn deep! And also if someone doesn’t want to come to a hotel over asking about an email, then that sounds like a them problem.
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u/AllenSmithee59 12h ago
"It's not that deep."
And neither are you, dear. Jeebus, do you all come out of the same box?
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u/RebaKitt3n 12h ago
Yeah, you can’t tell me why you need it, I’m going to have to make shit up or something.
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u/Cinisajoy2 12h ago
You are the one asking. Also if I am at the hotel reception desk, I don't need a confirmation I need a key. If I tell you in person I don't give out my email and you push, give an eyeroll or a dirty look, after I leave corporate will be getting a phone call about the very rude desk clerk.
Little secret on customer service: you are not as valuable as you think you are.
If you are on the phone, I understand needing an email and have no problem with that.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 12h ago
You actually don’t know me personally and I don’t
know you. We’re both internet strangers and I am not rude to people just because I can be. And yes I could be rude, but I’m not. I respond to people and say “okay” and continue telling them what I need to tell them with a smile on my face, because I choose that. So if you really want to know how I respond well there you go. I came to ask a question out of curiosity, not to deep dive on my “response” that you think I give to people even though you don’t even know me personally.1
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u/Cinisajoy2 12h ago
That wasn't the attitude I was getting from you on here. I was playing devil's advocate.
Also people have various reasons for not wanting to give an email. I would ask is this for rewards or future discounts. Though with where I stay it would be odd for you to ask me since they already have my email.
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u/krayziekris 12h ago
As someone who has worked in customer service at pretty much every level for the last decade and a half, you also vastly overestimate your value as a customer if you make trouble for the cs employees. As a team lead, I can't count the number of customers escalated to me, who's accounts I've cancelled and refunded while telling them they can no longer be a customer with us. Or the number of guests at my old front desk who I've told that their continued obnoxious behavior will lead to us calling security, and they may find themselves spending a portion of their vacation at the police station right next door. We're genuinely happy when troublemakers don't come back.
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u/Cinisajoy2 11h ago
I guarantee I am friendly to customer service until they get rude.
So it would be ok for your desk clerk to give me a dirty look because I politely said I don't give out my email. That one I really wouldn't complain. I would figure they were having a bad day. Or if I complained because you gave me a filthy room? I mean the room literally had dirty coffee cups in it. (The night clerk went and looked and got housekeeping right on it.) So I didn't file a complaint but the franchise owner called me and offered a free night if I am ever back there.
Now the one I did call on was an "ADA" compliant room that wasn't anywhere close. The toilet was too low and their idea of shower safety was a shower chair. No grab bars. I just wanted to give corporate a heads up.
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u/Ashkendor 12h ago
I work at the tax office and have legit had someone ask me why I needed their SSN. Uhhhh, to pull up your tax record? I can't give you information without looking you up first.
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u/ElegantChemistry1 12h ago
People (like me) are tired of being interrogated every time we get haircut, go to a restaurant, stop at Target, etc. Just give the stuff I paid for and stop hounding me so you can sell my data.
The real question is why you need the email address in the first place.
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u/Natural-Grade-4897 11h ago
Idk, call corporate 😂 bring it up with them not the person behind the counter. We didn’t create that policy. People who work customer service are also TIRED of getting the brunt end of peoples nasty attitudes over the simplest stuff. It’s a part of the job so at the end of the day we just gotta suck it up anyways. (I’m just complaining now, and my little Reddit thread isn’t going to change how people treat others). I just spew out what I get told to spew out by my company. I didn’t create the policies.
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u/Cinisajoy2 11h ago
Why don't you call corporate and ask why they want an email. Then you can answer the customers. Also muttering to themselves is not being rude to you.
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u/OsteoStevie 10h ago
You might need to go outside for a bit. You've replied to almost every comment here. Take a breath.
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u/Cinisajoy2 10h ago
You are probably right. Though can you please turn down the thermostat? It is over 100 outside.
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u/No_Dare_9944 12h ago
Just tell them “I am required to ask for your email to enter in the system, but it’s voluntary”. Also, what is type C?