I am a firm believer in justice. I also believe we, as the little man, should fight all injustices against us by corporate America. A dollar is worth more to an individual than it is to Big Business. Below is feedback I sent to McDonald's via mcdonalds.com:

I am writing to complain about the lack of communication skills of McDonald's cashiers. This is the second time this year I have experienced this and it is quite baffling. The first incident occurred a couple months ago at the McDonald's [Express?] inside the Wal-Mart in Sterling, VA 20166.

Basically, I placed my order which included a request for a small cup for water. I look at my receipt and am charged $1.00 for a small Coke. Who orders a cup of water expecting to pay $1? If your policy is not to give cups for water, why don't your cashiers explain this instead of going ahead and charging customers for what obviously should be free. I believe in the state of Virginia, regular water (not bottled) cannot be charged for, but I may be wrong. Even if you can charge for it, isn't it extremely obvious that a cashier should be able to explain this to a customer?

In both cases, the cashiers in question did not seem to have a firm grasp of the English language. Basically, they can't express concepts which should be quote obvious, or they don't feel comfortable doing so. I don't begrudge them for not knowing our language yet, but customer service includes communication.

The manager in this case gave me $1 cash back without accounting for the tax. That's fine by me. I am just disheartened that customer service does not seem to be a priority in hiring cashiers. To me, it is painfully obvious that when one asks for a cup for water, they don't expect to be paying $1 for it. Any sensible cashier should at least know to explain that a customer will be charged, if this is McDonald's policy.

Thank you for your time.

Is this trifling? This fight is not about $1, although gift certificates will gladly be accepted alongside a corporate apology. There are two things in play here. First, the little man [me] getting shafted by big business. Again, relatively speaking, $1 in my pocket is worth more than $1 in a McDonald's earnings report. Hello, Billions Served. Millions screwed, I say.
Secondly, just the fact that there are people out there who don't have the common sense to know that when a person asks for a small cup for water, they don't want to pay the price of a Coke. Hello, McFly (<- that McFly came out before I made the mental connection with McDonald's; damn that was nice). These are McDonald's with self-serve soda fountains. Why would I explicity ask for a cup for water and expect to pay for it?