To the Editor:

(The following is in response to a statement made by a Marion Planning Board member at the committee’s Nov. 17 meeting)

I have to disagree with a comment made in reference to differences between corporate businesses and small town businesses.

The Planning Board member stated that if you were to go into Dunkin Donuts and then realize you do not have money on you, the staff would not be friendly and cover your purchase until you returned to pay. On the other hand, she said if you went to the Marion General Store and forgot to bring cash the owners would put it on your tab until you went back.

From personal experience, I have to say she is wrong.

On Nov. 13, I went to Dunkin Donuts during a time when gift cards were not being accepted. The manager came to the window and said he would pay for my order. I was taken aback, but accepted the offer and went about my business. The next day I returned to Dunkin Donuts wanting to pay the manager for his kindness, but he refused and said, “Thank you for your business.”

I guess what I am saying is – whether it is a corporate business or a small town business – it’s not the title that makes the business. It is the people that make a business work. Dunkin Donuts has so many different people working there of all ages and I have never, ever not been treated in a respectful way. The Marion General Store also has very nice people working there that have always been respectful.

It is not the “business” that succeeds. It is the people that work in the business and their attitudes and character that will make a business a success.

Alice Briggs,

Marion