I'm Mad as Hell About Square's Shady Automatic Emails
The sandwich was unremarkable—lukewarm and not quite melted, like a college freshman’s late-night microwave snack rather than a true grilled cheese. But I have thought about the sandwich every week since I ordered it, because the food truck that made it won’t stop emailing me.
First came the receipt. Then the expressions of gratitude, offers of deals. “Thanks for your visit!” one email screamed. “Get FREE FRIES!!” another offered. I do not want your free fries, food truck. What I want is to be left alone.
The emails keep coming because I paid for my grilled cheese with a credit card using the food truck’s Square credit card machine. Even though I never agreed to be put on this restaurant’s email list for all eternity, by virtue of swiping my card in that specific Square card reader, I apparently signed up to be hounded, spammed, and annoyed for the rest of my life.
If you’ve used a credit card at a retail establishment in the past five years or so, you probably know what I mean. You bought a pair of earrings at a jewelry stand? Now you’re on a list. Purchase a lemon from a roadside “honor system” fruit stand? You’re on a list. I’m on lists for the pottery place where I once bought a Christmas gift, and the fast food joint where my kid gets his dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.
