The Sprouts Skimming Scandel

 I don't want to depress myself by writing about bad things.  I went to Sprouts today to buy goat's milk.  There was heavy calm traffic, and people were chill.  My eyes have been fuzzy all weekend, but that is normal.  Weekends in Fayettenam, the mood or tone of our weekends, largely is affected by one thing.  Mr. ES4400ACH.  People think I am crazy when I talk about the trains.  They also elected Donald Trump president a second time, and we are on the verge of a mutiny, or civil, or revolutionary war.  From now on when I talk about relevant issues, no longer do I consider anyone else's opinion.  You elected the dictator emeritus, the new King of America.  Your opinion no longer matters.  It is not valid.  You have proved your ignorance and naivete.  When I talk about AC traction, IGBT's,  thrysistors, prime movers, and distributed power, not to mention the plethora of electronic radiation coming off of a heavy haul AC traction freight locomotive, it is because it is dangerous and invasive to people.  I realize you need your jobs, so we ignore wrong doing and corporate corruption.  When I checked out at Sprouts I used cash.  Usually I use a debit card.  Still the cashier asked me to look at the card reader and punch a button.  What was I doing?  I didn't think about it.  Cash back, but I am paying with cash.  I looked down at the machine and there were two choices, red or green.  In my mind red would be "No."  Green would be "Yes."  I confess I did not read the words, because my eyes were fuzzy because of the weekend in Fayettenam.  I punched what I thought was the "No" Button.  As he rang me up, I calculated the change in my mind.  It was $9.18.  That is a lot for a quart of milk, but it is goat's milk from California.  I am not impressed with America's dairy, beef, poultry, or eggs.  The government has continued to buy the farmers out.  Why?  Why has the United States government done this, pay farmers NOT to produce fresh food?  "Soylent Green."  Washington has undermined America's food sources, like everything else.  It is a crisis, the availability of fresh nutritious food.  This local Sprouts is marginal in terms of their produce quality.  Often it is bad.  On a good day you can find some good things.  I calculated my change in my head.  I paid with a twenty, so he would have to make change for the leftover amount subtracted from a ten spot.  $.82.  I should get eighty-two cents plus a ten spot in change.  He handed me a single bill and the receipt.  Because I had calculated in my head the amount of coinage I was to receive, it was a shock when he nonchalantly didn't hand it to me.  I said, "You owe me $.82."  He said, "No I don't.  The machine asked you if you wanted to round up and you pressed 'Yes.'"  He also said he could not give me my money back if I had made a mistake.  I said I had made a mistake and didn't see the screen choices correctly.  Because I paid with cash, why was I required to use this machine anyway?  The answer is because it is manipulative.  If you the customer failed to see the prompt or misinterprets the query, they take advantage of you.  I admit to making the mistake, but it was honest.  I thought I had hit the "No" button, just like people in Palm Beach County, Florida thought they had voted for Al Gore for president in 2000.  Was the butterfly ballot intentional?  Scooping money off of the customers purchase with a machine and a smile is unethical.  After thinking about it I went back into the store and asked to see the manager.  A young bearded mountain man appeared.  I professed to have made a mistake and wanted my $.83 back.  He said it was not possible.  I said why?  He said it was a donation.  "To whom," I asked.  he said he didn't know.  95% of the donations to Wounded Warrior go to their organization, not the soldiers.  They take lavish trips, party into the night, and laugh.  It turns my stomach, the same way Sprouts skimming my money with a machine scheme does.  "We don't know what charity the "donation" goes to.  That is because it does not go to any charity.  They say it does, and like the entire Republican Party, they lie.  They lie straight to your face.  "I can't give you your money back, because it was a donation."  "I made a mistake, because your machine was misleading."  "Too bad.  We got you and your money."  Merry Christmas.