Ok honey settle down. I agree that no one needs to lie. When these associates say "can I have your phone number starting with area code" my response is simply NO. I've never had them force me to give it. I am not doubting what happened to you. But I guarentee that it was this employee being an idiot and not knowing what to do. Not the actual company telling her to do it that way. I worked for a computer repair shop and we did the same thing. If the customer refused to give their number the associate would just input a fake number. She was just lacking common sense when she asked *you* to make up the number.

And then you FREAKED out and went off on this tangent about lying in front of children. Get a grip.