Senior Citizen Discount

Ok, I've spent the entire day complaining/laughing about this ... and I think I'm far enough past it that I can finally write about it.

Last night Max and I went to Perkins for dinner. We had a wonderful waitress and ended up talking to her for a while after dinner. As we left, the manager went outside for a break and our waitress ended up checking us out. Now, here's the deal. The bill was $24.45. Max and I intended to give her 2 $20 bills and take $10 back - a good tip. So, she's messing around at the cash register. I have no idea what's going on, Max and I are just jabbering at each other, he has the cash in his hand.

She looks up at us, says "With your discount, that will be $19.31." Max looks at me, we're both a little confused and he hands her the 2 $20s. I gathered my wits about myself quickly enough to realize that this wasn't working correctly and asked her to give us a $10, $5, and 5 $1s for the tip. She counts the change out to Max and he is still a little stymied. He hands her a $5 and I tell him to give a single with it - the original bill was $24.45 and I tip on the original not the discount. I don't need to be stingy. I was, however, still looking around to figure out what in the world was going on - was there a sign for Tuesday nights around there? A Christmas discount?

She said "thank you" and we turned to walk out the front door. I think it hit us both about the same time. We got outside and started howling with laughter! Max looked at me, "That's our first senior citizens discount! And I have 6 more years!" Because yes, on Tuesday nights, senior citizens receive 20% off their meals. We laughed about it all the way home.

So, the deal is ... while I love the idea that the restaurant comped my tip last night, I'm not terribly comfortable with the assumption that I'm a senior citizen! I promptly called my sister, she laughed at me. I called my brother and got "Ouch. Ouch." A couple of friends enjoyed the texts that I sent to them. But, from now on? I'm only eating at Perkins with my very young friends.

I have several ... several ... years before I hit 55. While I shouldn't complain about getting a discount, I guess I'm not ready to get it at the expense of adding years to my age!