A matter of privacy

I was in a restaurant jotting down stuff for my blog on my PDA when one of the crewmembers approached me with a hefty looking logbook. For a minute there I thought I already overstayed my welcome given the fact that the salmon teriyaki I ordered was already finished and digested probably hours ago. She was looking at me so intently with the logbook in her hands that she looked ready to beat me with it. Well, as it turns out the logbook was a customer feedback record.

I quickly answered the questionnaire and jotted down some generic comments about how good the food and service was and that I will be coming back again just to get it over with. What I found strange however was the type of personal information it was asking. Normally a feedback form of this sort would be concerned with the basic demographical questions like age group, sex, probably household income bracket, and the like. But in this case, it was very specific. It asked for my name, address, even contact number, and actual birthdate! What's even more surprising is that people actually provided that information. And to make it worse still is that all of this information were in this thick logbook for any potential stalker to see. Not that I have any stalker tendencies mind you, but what the hell were these people thinking! The probable truth is that they weren't thinking at all. Some people wouldn't hesitate to give out personal information just for raffle coupons, freebies, and for this case just because the crewmember asked nicely enough. In this age of stalkers, identity theft and kidnap for ransom, to whom would you trust your personal information? The banks? The utility companies? Advertising firms? The crewmember of your favorite fast-food at your local mall? The complete stranger that just happen to obtain your personal information from your favorite fast-food at your local mall?

Ok, enough ranting for today. I might just have a chat on the phone with a certain Melissa later and ask her why she hated that prawns tempura so much. Or better still I just might pay her a visit. Imagine how pleasantly surprised she will be. Wahahaha [evil laugh].