Advertisement Most fell into one of two camps: either angry that fewer businesses are accepting checks or exasperated that members of the first camp even exist.
Both reactions seem extreme. There’s plenty of potential for mischief with both checks and credit cards — a check does, after all, contain your bank routing code. And it’s not likely condescension and contempt will pull check-lovers into the digital age. In any case, here are some reactions that story elicited:
newt wrote: “... I guess ... I’ll just save a few extra bucks by not eating out as much. ...”
Honestly wrote: “Thank God, it is no longer 1970. Check writers, get some cash, get a debit card, get a credit card. There is nothing worse then standing in line, hearing the total of the person in front of you, and then watching them whip out their pen and paper and ask, ‘Can I write it for $10 over?’ ... Stop wasting my time with your ledger.”
Seriously Now wrote: “It’s the further erosion of customer service, plain and simple. And the nonsense about having to wait so long while the person in front of you writes a check is silly. ... Business wants our money but doesn’t want us to get in the way of them taking it from us. Next time, pay with a jar of pennies!”
het1996 wrote: “I honestly cannot believe there are people still writing checks. The only reason I think that people do is to float money. ...”
Josie wrote: “Yes, people do still write checks! And no, not all of them write them to ‘float money.’ ... I guess it may be time to get a debit card!”
elocs wrote: “Those who insist on deluding themselves that checks are safer will be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century ...”
Turning out the lights
No one was surprised that LaCrosse Footwear is finally leaving its namesake behind entirely, but the story about the company’s decision to close its two local distribution centers inspired some chatter at www.lacrossetribune.com:
Darwin wrote: “Two words: buy American. Even the product with the word ‘LaCrosse’ on it is made overseas because we’re not willing to pay a few bucks more. I wonder if Chinese children are better shoemakers? ...”
aggie wrote: “The thing that bothers me the most is that while the boots are being made so much cheaper, the price you and I pay in the stores is the same or maybe even more ... so whose pocket is being padded?”
Honestly wrote: “Aggie, isn’t the point of a business to make profit? ... If you are so worried that they are making so much money, become an owner in the company, publicly traded, ticker symbol ‘boot’!”
Sully wrote: “Too bad they don’t leave the name here. Made in China crap with the LaCrosse name. Ticks me off.”
daddylonglegs wrote: “Buy American? Good luck with that. You ever try to find things that are actually manufactured here?”
For straights only
The debate about gay marriage sparked up again at www.lacrossetribune.com when a Dane County judge upheld Wisconsin’s constitutional ban on the practice:
The Real World wrote: “Why do these people keep trying to get more privileges than the other people.”
laxreader wrote: “I myself am not gay but I also don’t care if someone is, as long as they know I am not! The ban on gay marriage isn’t OK with me. ...”
emerald wrote: “I hope I never reach the point in my life when I want to deny someone else the rights that I have just because they are gay.”
theskyisfalling wrote: “More privileges? You’ve got to be kidding me. They are looking for the SAME rights that I have as a straight person. I can marry the person I wish to. Gays cannot. It’s discrimination. PERIOD.”
Mack wrote: “Gays and singles are carrying more of the load and getting fewer of the benefits.”
wiseup wrote: “Society decides, NOT YOU, or some activist judge! The people VOTED on this question and NO judge anywhere should make this decision!”
How to read the scores
When La Crosse’s 10th-grade reading scores took a dip this year in relation to the statewide performance on a standardized test, some of the visitors at www.lacrossetribune.com defended the district, while other suggested them weren’t getting their taxes’ worth:
audifan08 wrote: “Scores dip ... but the teachers pay keeps going up. What’s wrong with that picture?”
just the facts wrote: “Our teachers have lots of competition for face-to-face quality teaching time. Thank God they do this well. Maybe if the union radicals and administration spent less energy fighting No Child Left Behind testing, it would be more helpful!”
Eddie wrote: “Maybe if people would stop obsessing about ‘union radicals’ and allow teachers to TEACH, then maybe we would see greater success. ...”
By the numbers
nGlen Campbell’s best song — “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” — was named the favorite of only 8 percent of the 1,433 respondents to one of our just-for-online polls, virtually tied with “Galveston.” The winner? “Rhinestone Cowboy” with 29 percent, followed by “Wichita Lineman” with 17 percent and the lovely “Gentle on My Mind” with 11 percent.
nPoll participants also spurned the late Sydney Pollack’s best film, “Three Days of the Condor.” It got just 5 percent of the vote (48 of 1,021) when we asked for people’s favorite Pollack movie. “Tootsie” (20 percent) barely outpolled “Jeremiah Johnson” as the favorite, followed by “The Firm” (13 percent), and “Out of Africa” and “The Way We Were” (9 percent each).
You may reach Marc Wehrs at (608) 791-8218 or mwehrs@lacrossetribune.com.
