Letters to the Editor

We welcome letters on local issues. National topics may be referenced only if they have direct local impact. Letters must include the writer’s name, address, phone, and email; only the name and town will be published. Anonymous or mailed letters will not be accepted or returned. Limit: 250 words. Libelous, discriminatory, inflammatory, or threatening content will not be published. Each writer may submit two free letters per year. Political endorsement letters cost $100, must be prepaid, and will not be published within one week of an election.

To the Editor:
While I live most days without much negativity, I must report that today was not 100% positive. I visited one of Merrill’s local national-chain fast-food vendors. As a favor for my homebound wife, I agreed to retrieve French fries and a small Coke for her. It was 12:18 p.m. The window attendant told me the cost would be $4.83. I drove around to the cash window and tendered a $5 bill. She handed me a receipt that showed a $4.83 charge and 15 cents in change. I expected 17 cents. I challenged her arithmetic. She informed me the establishment no longer has any pennies, whereupon I told her that, in essence, she had just charged me $4.85. She then demanded to see my receipt, took it, and did not return it, nor did she agree to round the bill down.
As you can imagine, I drove away angry, not because I lost two pennies, but because the company is a multibillion-dollar worldwide fast-food vendor, and if they do this to everyone in America who buys their food products, they are deliberately manufacturing a huge daily profit at the expense of their customers! This sort of thing is intolerable! I told the attendant that this would be my last transaction with them! Actually, I said more than that to her, but I find it necessary to clean up my remarks to make them palatable for your readers. Suffice it to say that for me, this was the last roundup ...

- Joseph R. Plummer
Merrill, Wis.