Truly insulting.

I had a table today of six. One of them, a woman around twenty, was in military fatigues. They were nice enough, unremarkable ... Until the end. After I had already run their credit card and returned it to the table, the older gentleman (fatigue-wearer's father) waved me down. 

"Do you have a military discount?"

I told him we did, but it would take several minutes to do and I'd need to re-run his credit card. Usually that discourages people, but not this time. 

"That's okay. We'll wait!"

Fuck. 

So I took the card and got Fester, who first of argued with me and tried to say that you can't so discounts on tickets that were pulled back after being closed. He got even more grumpy when I told him yes you can, you just can't void things. Eventually, be pulled the ticket back and did the discount - for the person in the military, who was not the person who paid - and made the comment "she's not supposed to wearing her uniform in public like that."

So I re-ran the card and returned it to the table, with a copy of their receipt. I continued waiting on my other tables, noticing out of the corner of my eye that the military girl and her parents were all crowded around the receipt and talking to each other in hushed tones. But they didn't stop me as I walked slowly by, so I shrugged it off. 

When I next came out of the kitchen, military mom had cornered Fester and was almost yelling. From across the restaurant I heard her say "that is truly insulting!" and then his reply that "a ten percent discount is insulting?"

Apparently she stormed up to him and demanded to know why that ten percent discount didn't apply to everyone at the table - and then told him it was insulting that her daughter only got ten percent off of her personal food "after all she's been through."

("All she's been through," it turned out, was basic training.)

Fester refused to give the rest of them a discount and when he went back to the kitchen he unloaded about how insulting he found it that this family was trying to use their daughter's military service that way. "They're the kind of people who show on Veteran's Day and think having a kid in the military entitles them to free food!"

I wasn't as pissed as ex-Army Fester, but I was still annoyed. My grandfather was a career soldier and he would never have asked for a military discount. My aunt is in the Navy and my cousin is Army, my best friend's brother is Air Force, etc etc - none of the military people I know would have allowed a family member to make a scene that way. Maybe if they were treating the rest of the family to a meal, they might have asked if it applied to everything - but they'd never demand. 

I'm okay if that family doesn't come back. They left a bad taste in everyone's mouths.