Rodney’s son asked him to pick up some nicotine patches, so he did. Rodney, an ex-smoker himself, knows the agony of nicotine withdrawal, and was happy to help him out. Up to a point. He wasn’t happy enough to let Target scan his driver’s license and hold on to the information that he had bought nicotine patches when he hasn’t smoked in years. The thing is, his caution is entirely justified. He could very well land on a data broker’s list of recent smokers. [More]
paranoia
Why Does Target Need To Scan My Driver’s License To Sell Me Nicotine Patches?
By 3.18.13 — Updated: 3.19.13
Walmart Manager Takes Customer's DVD Away Because He Won't Show Receipt
By 1.19.10
Yep, it’s another Walmart receipt checker story! At the end of it, the OP asks, “What should I do?” And I sigh. I really don’t know. Don’t shop at Walmart anymore? Try to encourage your friends to not give their business to any company that acts in such a hostile way to honest, albeit uncooperative, customers? Spend a ton of money on a lawsuit that Walmart will use its very deep pockets to fight? [More]
Staples Wants To Know If They're Freaking You Out With Their All-Knowing Emails
By 11.10.09
Apparently Staples is worried that their emails might be too accurate when it comes to marketing office supplies to people—accurate enough to make potential customers paranoid.
Amex Wants To Play "Scam Call" With You, Please Participate
By 3.30.09
Update: It turns out the call was legit.
CenterPoint Energy Thinks Your Fish Tank Is A Meth Lab, So Police Kick In Your Door
By 4.30.08
You’d think between the reactionary CenterPoint…
How To Disappear From The Transaction Grid
By 9.26.07
The complete essay, “Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace,” contains some of the most amusing paranoid delusional crap we’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, some of it criminal in nature, but it speaks to the lengths one might have to go to “live off the grid” as it were, in modern America.
Jell-O Causes Biohazard Scare
By 10.11.06
A quivering, offal-like pool of cherry-flavored horse gelatin caused authorities in Germany to declare a biochemical emergency.
DefendMyStreet Owner’s Bad Business History
By 9.14.06
Even before scaring people into giving up their email addresses by spreading tales of sex offender bogeymen, Florian McCann did not have a good rep in Denver. Commentors Pelagius and AcilletaM found several complaints and even news items about McCann’s Mile HI Aeration company. Consumers complained about being billed and turned over to collections for aerations that were never performed. Frequently, poor service and damage to lawn sprinklers appear among the complaints. The BBB has over 339 complaints lodged against the company in the past 36 months, most unresolved. When Channel 7 asked Mile Hi back in 2002 about why it refuses to address complaints, they said they “don’t kiss up” to its customers.
Colorado Pedophile Paranoia Site Probed
By 9.14.06
Our inside man at the Colorado Department of Public Safety tells us the guy posting pedophile-paranoia flyers all over suburban Colorado has been identified as one Florian McCann, who insists he’s “simply being a good neighbor.” The CPDS feels certain that he’s using the site, and fear-mongering, to gather email addresses, purpose unknown.
DefendMyStreet.com Issues Fake Humbert Humbert Alerts
By 9.11.06
Brian Crecente — another a fellow absorbed fetus in Gawker’s bulging, all-consuming belly of blogs — wrote us with a truly scummy scam running in his neighborhood, hyping on parents’ crazed paranoia of pedophiles:
