The Missing Cents

Like many writers, I’m a little more sensitive than most to spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors out there in the real world. The one that caught my notice recently was the cent symbol. Has anyone noticed just how difficult it is to get a cent symbol on electronic devices? My phone, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have an option for it. It’s not on the keyboard. Even when ‘inserting a special character’ it’s a bit of a hunt. In fact, I had to look up the ASCII code just to insert the cent symbol in this post.

Why do I care? Well, for starters, the number of tweets I’ve seen advertising $0.99 books would undoubtedly benefit from being 99¢. However, I’m convinced the powers that be are actively guiding us away from the cent symbol because MOST PEOPLE DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKS. Which amazes me, because I learned how currency worked, along with how to notate it, in Grade One. Maybe the curriculum is different now, but I started noticing these errors 20 years ago, long before my peers should have made it into anyone’s marketing department.

Around 20 years ago, I worked in a pharmacy. I can’t tell you the number of coupons -- provided by large corporations to be placed on the shelves -- had errors similar to this:

Get .75¢ off!

Dumb asses. That means ¾ of a cent. I always wanted to say to the customer, “I’m going to be nice, and round up your discount to a whole cent, how about that?”

Seriously, didn’t anyone proof that?

What’s even more amusing/aggravating is that despite the problems finding the cent symbol on most electronic devices, it must be readily available on the control panel of those LED signs, because my local strip mall is an egregious offender. I’ve seen eggs advertised for .12¢ (and honestly, 12¢ was impressive enough, never mind less than ¼ of a cent). I’ve seen bread and mugs advertised as .99¢. So tempted to wander in with a roll of pennies one day and try to buy 50 items with it.

But then, trying to explain to someone who doesn’t get it why it’s wrong would probably make my head explode. So, I’m saving my bitching for you. Aren’t you lucky?

KC Burn