Is This A Sign of US Military Veteran Entitlement?
This sounds more like the spouse thinking she wears the rank of the servicemember their married to:
My wife and I own a couple of smoothie/food shops. As small-business entrepreneurs, we take a lot of pride in providing 55 jobs while making payroll every week, all self-financed as saved- and scrimped-for investment capital. As owners, we choose to offer a 10 percent discount to first-responders and active-duty/reserve military and guardsmen. Which is where I get to my rub.
Recently, I had a military spouse grow irate with my cashier because we didn’t offer a discount to military family members. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. I guess I could stop offering any discount at all to the military, but would rather not. In this particular case, my cashier was on the receiving end of a very long tirade about how obviously unappreciative ownership must be of the sacrifices of the military family. The woman ended by stating “it would be in the owner’s best interest” to offer discounts to families as well. I wish I was there to find out exactly what she meant beyond her vague threat.
Her response, I believe, had nothing to do with my veteran-owned business being unappreciative of military families (we know firsthand about the hardships endured on the home front), and everything to do with the growing sense in our active and retired military community that as a group its members should be catered to because of their service. This is terribly misplaced and hurts civil-military relations, as well as sullies our service to this great nation. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link,but no business should be expected to give military discounts like this woman wanted.
“The woman ended by stating “it would be in the owner’s best interest” to offer discounts to families as well. I wish I was there to find out exactly what she meant beyond her vague threat.”
Jesus. What. A. See. You. Next. Tuesday.
I’ve never asked for a military discount as a spouse. I can’t even imagine responding like that. It’s very nice of him to give discounts to military members, and he should be thanked for that courtesy, not insulted.
My wife always asks for a discount, but if she doesn’t get one as a dependant, she just shrugs her shoulders and moves on.
Nothing wrong with asking for a discount, but don’t get in a snit if it’s not offered.
Typical dependent wife, more than likely sits on her fat arse all day & cruises the E-club at night, thinking that she is a contributing member to the nation…
Benjo, you shouldn’t use a sweeping generalization for all military spouses, but unfortunately I have seen some spouses think they are the same rank as their servicemember spouse even when interacting with other Soldiers. Here is a perfect example of this.
[i]”Here is a perfect example of this.”[/i]
Let’s see…she (helpfully) notes that people “either hate her or love her” (if a person says this about herself, it’s never a good sign…no one loves her) and wants to be called doctor because she has a phd in Marketing. That’s all I have to know, right there.
Wish I had a dime for every hour I was forced to spend “volunteering” for some forced-fun activity or self-licking ice cream cone fundraiser event (or “volunteering” to host at my home…we’ve been forced to spend thousands this way…excuse me, “volunteered”). My husband worked for one squadron commander whose wife was so bad, a few years back…she asked me to go with her to “discipline” one of the wives. The wife’s horrible crime? She invited the squadron wives over to a supper party without asking the commander’s wife if she could do so. The squadron commander (this idiot’s husband, another idiot) told her husband he never would have made him flight commander “if he’s known what trouble his wife was going to cause”. A supperclub. No, I didn’t attend the “disciplinary session”. I think when she saw the look on my face she decided to recruit someone else for the task. We were at that assignment for eight months, and in that time I was forced to host about seven large parties, at large expense.
I’m lucky that I never married while in the military, or achieved a rank where I had to endure this stupidity. As to veteran discounts I rarely ask for them, and when they are offered, I graciously accept them. Perhaps the only exception to that is that many local restaurants offer free meals on Veteran’s Day. I usually meet up with a few friends who are vets and we will get together for lunch or dinner.
I am the wife of a CSM. And, you will know this and take heed, as you see my digital pattern purse bag with CSM rank on it. TAKE HEED!