Rick Liebling writes and reminds me of a pet peeve. He stopped at the Cinnabon in Penn Station and his treat came to $3.03 with tax. Now, he has to hassle looking for change, or break a bill, and the store has to hassle with breaking the bill and shlepping lots of pennies to and from the bank. In the long run, they may even need to hire another clerk because productivity is hit.

How does this happen?

Well, it’s because the price is set by corporate, I guess. And corporate doesn’t know or care what NY State tax is. And it’s too hard for them to think it through.

But do you know what’s really hard? And what would work better?

They ought to RAISE the price on everything in store a few pennies. Then they should teach their clerks to always round off the pennies. So if a check comes to $5.05, the clerk says, "don’t worry about the nickel."

Don’t worry about the nickel!

Can you imagine? Would that make your day or what? A little free prize that makes you feel way better about a $5.00 fat and calorie bomb that you could make at home for fifty cents.

Expectation and surprise virtually always trump reality.