Talking to strangers and telling them your life story while standing in line is common in the South. Those new to our area are often taken aback by our friendliness and interest in them. Although I’ve made good friends out of total strangers, and don’t mind telling them all about myself, for some weird reason, I can’t stand sharing my personal information with businesses.
Maybe it’s the threat of “Big Brother” we read about in high school, or perhaps the 60 Minutes story about how your identity can be stolen by simply tracing someone’s receipts freaked me out, but I like living off the grid and keeping my business transactions personal. And if you’ve read this column for any amount of time, you also know that along the same lines, I have a major aversion to the sign-in sheet at doctor’s offices. (Real question from someone; “I saw your name on the list from earlier in the day. What’s wrong with you?”) Attention doctors; I pay you lots of money. Go buy a Sharpie.
Although my son and his entire generation think it’s no big deal to distribute their personal information, my super-talented beautician at Bee-Bee’s Bodacious Beauty Barn, Nancyanne, nearly came unglued when the chipper teen, working outside at Chic-fil-A’s drive-thru on curb-duty, wanted to know her name.
“Why do you need my name?” she asked. “Oh, it’s so . . . click HERE to finish reading the story on AL.com.