You Know What? I'm Okay with the Senior Discount Now.

[canyonwalker]

Today, again, for the second time in umpteen visits, a local fast food restaurant gave me the senior discount on my order.



In the past I've reacted, "WTF? How old do you think I am?" Now I'm like, whatever. You want to give me a discount I don't deserve, that's okay with me. I don't care if young'uns think I'm 15 years older than I am. I'm only as old as I feel. And a buck-fifty's a buck-fifty. 😅

For years I've been secretly jealous of senior discounts. As a teen struggling to afford things on my minimum wage salary I always frustrated by it. Why do seniors get a discount? I wondered. They've had way more years to get the money!

Well, now it's my turn. I mean, technically it's not my turn for another 10-12 years for 10% off at many restaurants, hotels, etc., but why not let grab those discounts as soon as I can from whippernappers who think that everyone over 40 is 65+. That's right, kids, I remember the 1980s! I changed TV channels with a knob on the TV set! I raised and lowered windows in my first car by turning a crank! Now give me that damn 10% off. 🤣

Comments

[sorcyress]

TBF, when I worked at Dunkin Donuts, I applied the senior discount to everyone I plausibly could, because I straight up did not care about Making Maximum Money For The Benefit Of The Company, I cared about "can I lubricate these social relationships as much as possible and maybe do something nice for someone".

~Sor

[canyonwalker]

Yeah, I figure the cashier yesterday gave me the discount as a friendly gesture of helping me save a buck fifty rather than scorning me for being "old". The previous time a cashier at this restaurant gave me the senior discount— which, OMG, was two years ago now— I challenged it, out of surprise more than anything else, and they explained with a smile they were just doing me a small favor. Thus this time I took it in stride.

As for not caring about maximizing the company's profits, I remember that when I worked fast food, the manager on duty was held accountable to a few profitability metrics on their shift. The main one was labor cost as a percentage of revenue, tallied in real time by the computers. (Yes, I, a "senior citizen", had computerized clock in/clock out system at my first job that wasn't a newspaper route!) If we peons started giving senior discounts left, right, and center, the assistant manager would've had to send one of us home early to align the numbers. Plus we'd probably get disciplined for tanking the store's numbers.