First Senior's Discount

I am rapidly approaching my 54th birthday. I like to joke with my family (actually, it is only a half-joke) that with this birthday the countdown begins to the real milestone: #55, when I can begin to take advantage of the discounted "senior's menu" at various restaurants. But I recently got a head start, which didn't set too well with my vanity.

I was driving home from Jacksonville last Sunday evening and I thought it would be a nice treat to stop off at the Arby's in Starke and have a couple of their cheap Arby Melt sandwiches, along with some sweet tea. Only after I ordered the Melts, I discovered that their prices had gone up a lot. so I told the young man at the cash register to please change my order to something else I found on the menu that was cheaper. Oh, and just cancel the tea, please. But, sir, he pleaded, the "senior's tea" is really inexpensive. And so, still at 53, I unwittingly received my first senior's discount at a restaurant, feeling like a complete old fogey in the process. Still, I enjoyed it, the down-sized meal, and my rediscovered capacity to be extraordinarily cheap!

Actually, though, I believe that had I been a little less than honest with my age, I might have been able to partake of a senior's discount a couple of years ago. My daughter had just finished playing in a school basketball game down in Ocala and the whole family attended. Afterward, we went to the Golden Corral Steak House there for dinner (they have a very complete buffet with all sorts of mouth-watering selections). When initially placing our orders with the cashier, she looked at me and asked whether I wanted to see the senior's menu. That was the opening shot at my age-vanity.

Well, I might as well get used to people thinking I'm older than I am, especially when I can tweak the system to my advantage. And eventually, they will all be right anyway: I will someday be an old dude!