I love people getting upset when someone says fuck the troops 🥰
make sure you mean metaphorically
I’m not from the U.S., but why would people from the military get a discount? If you do that as a store, why not doctors and nurses too? Why stop there and why not include firefighters, government workers or teachers?
And who compensates you as a business owner for these giveaways? If your store happens to be close to an army base, do you just accept the disadvantage of giving away part of your profit?
It sounds pretty stupid. People should get paid enough to pay full price for their stuff. Especially by the government. Especially in a country that allocates an enormous part of their GDP to their military.
Teachers did actually get benefits in my country until 2016. It was a pretty decent system.
If you are a landlord then having an operational school nearby increases local rent prices so you do get to profit from charging teachers less rent.
America fetishize military service.
It sounds pretty stupid.
America in a nutshell
If your store happens to be close to an army base, do you just accept the disadvantage of giving away part of your profit?
No they just raise the base price for everyone.
why not doctors and nurses too? Why stop there and why not include firefighters, government workers or teachers?
Some places do this.
Who compensates you
In a round about way - everyone else. Though it’s possible you just make less profit 5% of the time.
Many Americans have an uncanny reverence for the military and those who served. I guess that reverence seeped its way into many a retail store’s management.
I think it’s just about optics for the most part.
I could be wrong here… but around the George W. Bush administration + 9/11 and the government painting everything they do as something to protect “against the terrorists!!!” that’s when a lot of things started happening.
That’s when the view of the military seemed to flip and it’s just been stuck that way. Movies like Top Gun were made as a PR stunt to make the military look better. The same is for basically every cop show out there: make cops look like the good guys. Anywho, every company went out of their way to really show “how much they support the troops” by giving a discount. And every smooth-brain started saying “THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE” every single time. The hero worship was/is real, and it shouldn’t be, and it’s a real problem. (Totally different conversation, but it’s led to an influx of people joining the military, or trying to, who really shouldn’t). Before Bush + 9/11, I don’t recall military discounts outside of, like, businesses that were owned/operated by vets.
I’ve heard that some food joints would offer military discounts back when people were figuring out how bad Vietnam was especially with how many vets were coming back broken and homeless. Theres at least one place near me that’s had a veterans discount as far back as '78, they also let folks camp out in their parking lot since it was a bit bigger to accommodate the firetrucks since they were in a more central location than the fire station at the time.
Rambling aside, veterans discount started out as a way to help conscripted veterans during and after the fustercluck that was Vietnam and then was hijacked at some point.
Ah. So possible it was cranked up to 11 (no pun intended) after 9/11. That, or its frequency illusion, and I just never noticed really before a certain point.
Hard to say without digging up when different places adopted it but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
Military discounts have been a thing for longer than that. Couldn’t tell you when it started.
It’s plain old jingoism. Just point and laugh at it.
Maybe I’m weird, but I guess I don’t care about military discounts. I probably just don’t have much experience with veterans. But like we give senior citizens discounts some places, because it’s expected they don’t have much money. And there’s lots of old folks who need it. Haven’t military folks traditionally had a hard time reintegrating? Like isn’t that the plot of “the forever war”? If it helps the ones who need it then good. Helping people in need is a good thing. I’m probably missing something so let me know what it is.
That’s not what a military discount is or does. It’s for active duty only, or full time retired, meaning you need an active and valid military ID on your person that matches YOU. Not your wife, not your friend Larry, not your brother Darrell, not your OTHER brother Darrell, YOU. It’s one of the things that makes life harder for people who leave the military. And while your in it, it does you little good.
I know this because I’ve managed stores with military discounts. The only thing worse than having to say ‘‘we don’t do that’’ is ‘‘Yes we do’’ Because the reality is that unless your talking to an old guy in a military insignia cap, or a surprisingly young enlisted person in uniform or military sweats, they aren’t getting the ID. You got your shins blown off in Vietnam? Well fuck you, the discount is for active enlisted and CAREER officers. No one the fuck else. Guess how many dessert storm, Vietnam, Iraq, Korean War, or WWII vets like hearing that shit explained to them. They are LIVID. They want ass pats and bjs they don’t want to hear they can’t save $0.07 on a pile of lumber because they didn’t make being drafted a career just got PTSD and forever shrapnel. I LOVE telling people no discount for anyone. It’s fantastic.
Why would they get a discount for choosing a job that involves them attacking other countries?
There are two ways to look at it, as I understand:
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Many (certainly not all) vets have a chip on their shoulder and expect white glove treatment. Kind of like a less whiny Karen.
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Many are of the belief that we should not reward people for aiding the government in its atrocities.
I think the meme is an exaggeration of those positions.
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I had an American ask me if he could get a military discount.
In Canada.
Actually that is not that insane. Canadian military often gets to take advantage to discounts in America.
When I worked in a commissioned sales job (read: professional capitalist thief) a coworker told me how he loved to have hot chicks as customers and he would always give them a discount.
I was like man “these girls get everything for free and discounts everywhere they go. Ipso facto they have more money to spend. Stop giving them discounts. Charge them more “
The weird thing ; they respected him for it.
Not sure where I’m going with this.
Who respected him more?
I’m so glad I gave all of my 20s to get shot at on the other side of the world in a desert, and now live with crippling PTSD, anxiety, and gastrointestinal disorders. But really, it’s all worthwhile because I get 10% off at the Gap.
Ah but you brought freedom and democracy to a bunch of dumb dusty people, right?
I don’t see how this is helpful. I guess you’re trying to remove incentives for joining the military? But really you’re just punishing veterans with PTSD. Keep in mind the military, at least in America, recruits what are effectively kids and then makes it a crime to disobey orders or quit. I’m not saying soldiers aren’t responsible for their actions, but also that kinda feels like punishing the working class for the crimes of the ruling class.
But really you’re just punishing veterans with PTSD
Failing to give special treatment to someone is not punishing them. Especially when we’re talking about special treatment for an entire category of people, most of whom don’t have PTSD (estimates range from 6-27% of those deployed to a war zone, and not all veterans served in a war zone), many of whom are financially well off.
Maybe the VA and the federal government should do more for vets. Maybe the military itself should take care of the troops a bit better. But asking private businesses to prop up veterans at their own expense seems like a misguided approach.
I think you could make the same argument for other things. Why do you tip servers in America? Aren’t you just propping up a system that screws them over? Why are you forgiving student loans? Aren’t you just propping up a system that put them into debt in the first place?
I’m also mostly speaking from my first hand experience with a vet with PTSD. But it’s very possible that experience isn’t representative of your average vet. But I’m trying to approach the situation with empathy for those fucked over by the government.
I think you could make the same argument for other things. Why do you tip servers in America? Aren’t you just propping up a system that screws them over? Why are you forgiving student loans? Aren’t you just propping up a system that put them into debt in the first place?
Yes! Yes! YES!
Obviously the answer is to change the system.
100% I agree the system needs to change. But what I asking is do you immediately remove the badaids on the current system? Or do you leave those bandaids in place until the current system is changed?
Edit: genuinely I don’t see how downvoting me without providing an alternative solution is helpful. If you think you understand how we fix the underlying system, I want to know the answer. All I’m asking is how do we fix the system without hurting working class people in the process (e.g. denying restaurant wait staff the tips they rely on to pay rent).
Why are you forgiving student loans?
That’s the federal government’s administration of a federal government program, so no, that’s not the same at all.
Why do you tip servers in America?
That’s the basic deal. If a restaurant implements a no tipping policy, they’re allowed to do that. I don’t see how that’s the same or different from a restaurant implementing a “discount for veterans” or “no discounts for veterans” policy. It sounds like we’re in favor of a system where the restaurant chooses what they want to be about, whether it’s a tip-based system or not, or a discounts for vets place or not.
So in a sense, it sounds like you agree with me that we should let the restaurants choose. Neither choice is a “punishment” of anyone.
I agree that the underlying system needs to be changed. But what I’m saying is you have a system that is not ideal, and you have bandaids on that system. For example, it’s very not ideal that restaurant servers depends on tips for a living. However, if you stop tipping without requiring restaurants to pay servers a living wage, aren’t you screwing over the server, not the restaurant? Or do you leave those bandaids in place while you try and fundamentally change the underlying system?
I’m asking. I don’t know the history of how systems like this have been changed in the past. But the examples I gave, in my mind, are all systems in US that are broken and have bandaid solutions. It’s not ideal that we offer better services to vets with PTSD, it’s not ideal that restaurant wait staff requires tips to pay rent, and it’s not ideal that student loans are required to pay for an education.
None of this entitles them to a discount.
Idea for any leftist bakeries out there: charge military members even more, veterans even more still. Refuse to make them cake! Make a big deal about it. Enjoy your free national media attention. Send me a little cut.
A little cut, as in a slice of cake?
You can’t get your discount without going through the ID me website anywhere corporate nowadays anyway… it doesn’t work nor have human contact points, it’s impossible for older veterans to use and it says half of us don’t even exist so basically military discounts have become enshitified as well . It does however take millions of dollars from the government in subsidies to ID me to obstruct Our discounts and your unemployment and disability benefits. We’re both working class and in this together whether you give me my 10% off on hardware or not.
The idea that I should care about a corporate losing money is laughable to me. I’ll give anyone a discount when allowed by the company without hesitation.
Removed by mod
Oh, I’m all in for spending company money. But I’d rather not incentivize murderers.
As a military veteran, this makes me a little sad… but the whole military discount thing has always made me feel weird. I mean, I’m no hero. I spent 20 years sitting at a desk, fixing computers. Why should I deserve a discount over any other office worker?
I currently live in an area far away from any military bases, so I’ve mostly stopped asking about military/veteran discounts. Most people here aren’t used to military being around this area anyway so there’s rarely a discount to offer. And I don’t really care if I get a discount or not; it doesn’t hurt me to pay full price.
But I’ve definitely worked with service members who would boycott businesses near our bases if they refused to provide a military discount. Some people get really entitled about their status. Those were the worst people I had to deal with in the service.
But I’ve definitely worked with service members who would boycott businesses near our bases if they refused to provide a military discount.
that seems like a plus
Seems like if you run a business near a military base then you would just set your prices X% higher than you really want to set them, and then offer an X% discount to all the people who shop there, knowing that everyone will wind up paying what you originally wanted to charge anyway
Related: JC Penney very publicly stopped pretending everything was always on sale, and just set everything to the “sale” price.
Despite the publicity of the move, sales tanked. Just a few months later, everyone involved was sacked, and they went back to pretending everything was always on sale.
Wait, was that the same as the ‘not setting prices at 0.99 instead of 1.00’ company?
TIL that was part of it as well
I know you got paid to be there, but still. A country without a military, even in times of “peace”, is a scary thing. Especially given the direction the world is heading these days… sure you sat behind a desk but who knows what you may have been needed to do if called upon in a worst case scenario, and so for that I say thank you for your service 🙏
The Facebook moms found us — who’s making the next link aggregator?
“Thank you for your service” cringe apart, you are right, militaries are paid for the inherit risk their profession carries, even if unlikely.
Also, on a little more distopian way, if incentivized, people are more likely to enroll in your military. And I’m guessing these discounts are on the shops, so it’s free benefit from the state.
👅💦🥾✨
lol
Reading this made me cringe.
But…why? I never faulted people asking for any sort of discount when I worked retail. Why blame them for simply asking if there was a way to get something cheaper? I couldn’t give a fuck if corporate was making less money while my fellow citizen saved some cash.
Based on the stories I have read some people are quite rude about asking for it.
Being able to deny rude people their request is a power play that customer service people can enjoy using.
Oh, well, that’s a different situation from the one I interpreted here, I guess. Yeah, unreasonably rude customers of any kind are awful.
Stories like what?
“Dependapotamus” and “dependa” should yield some results.
Stories posted on AskReddit when people are being asked about their jobs.
I don’t really use reddit at home anymore so I don’t have any exact links.
A lot of them just assume that everywhere bends over backwards for them. It’s incredibly obnoxious. Source: was a bartender for a decade
Source: was a bartender for a decade
Thank you for your service 🫡
Wait, people asked for a vet discount… at a bar?
I can see a restaurant, but a bar!?
Seems appropriate. Much faster service for your medication than at the va.
Facts
Oh heavens yes, some people have no shame
Because they are military and some people do not like that.
Certain! I’ll be honest. We’d start putting way less shame on not knowing and encouraging asking.
My dad loves the discount.
Its just a habit, he could care less about the actual amount.
Ah, the good ol’ crab bucket. Fuck X group because they got some scraps.
It’s not about someone getting a discount. It’s about businesses incentivizing American military that is prone of causing misery around the globe. It is immoral and insane.
You’re just a hater because you didn’t think to mow down a village so you could get $1 off your burger
More like fuck X group because they are paid murderers that invade other countries and makes every life they interact with worse.
The military is majority support roles like mechanic, cook, medic, signaler, padre, admin, logistics. There’s combat roles like infantry, artillery, combat engineer and armored and then the rest are people supporting them. Even in the combat roles it’s still pretty rare to be “murdering”. Americans are a bit different but a lot of militaries have rules of engagement. It’s not indiscriminate killing. It’s defending your fellow soldier, it’s protecting your base. They’re just people trying to do a job like any other.
Hey man, I’m not a Nazi, I only supply the gas
You’re on .ml
You’re all closer to Nazis than they are.
Oh cool, can I ask for a military discount now or do you need proof you’ve murdered children to get it?
Are you always this big of a loser or is this a special occasion
Most of these roles are means to help actual infantry and pilots to kill people.
The only roles that might be seen as something different are medic and cook. But even then - they are there so that the soldiers could be there on the battlefield later on.
Sending an army of medics and cooks would be pretty based if they weren’t there to help the people doing the pillaging instead of the people who need it.
UN is doing pretty much that. A little armed personnel, a lot of medics and cooks to help the locals
Somehow I think they don’t get to burn a trillion dollars a year to do that though
Things that actually help people don’t cost that much. For some people, it’s a problem.
No they’re not. The military’s role is not to kill. The majority of soldiers careers are spent assisting during disasters and supporting and maintaining equipment. The amount that kill are a very big minority. Movies and TV play it up.
The military play a bigger role in stabilizing and having a presence and ability to deploy in very dangerous and inhospitable areas where they can assist other nations in stabilizing areas then they do in going some places and indiscriminately killing people. If people try to attack them, they’ll defend. Offensive operations are few and far between.
The military everyday though is some where cutting down trees, training locals, securing supply lines in areas you’d never hear about. Even in war zones, the military medics provided a huge effort to provide medical services to locals. It sucks they have to be in places like Iraq or Afghanistan but that’s not the soldiers decision. Be mad at the politicians and your fellow citizens. But the soldier has a professional role. They’re not monsters. They’re no different than the general population. You’ll hear horror stories. But the vast majority are not and they honestly don’t deserve half the bullshit a lot of you give them.
Assisting during disasters
Emergency responders do this with much less overhead - like, well, weapons. They also receive a much more extensive training for this specific kind of thing.
Supporting and maintaining equipment
Military equipment, i.e. literal murder machines.
Stabilizing areas
UN Peacekeepers do this. National armies serve “national interests”, as defined by the government backing them. They are not always interested in deescalation of conflicts, and US Army in particular stirred so many conflicts and made them so much worse because it served US government. Same idea for the rest.
It’s not the soldiers decision
It’s their decision to join the army and voluntarily give up their right to refuse. If you know you can be sent to raze territories and people, why do you join in the first place? There are better places to do good aspects of what army occasionally does.
The primary role of military is to project power by either destroying or threatening to destroy anything a given government doesn’t like. Everything else comes secondary, and if not for that, we would have dedicated personnel only meant to do the good things instead. Don’t buy weapons and helicopters, train people to respond to emergencies and assist local civilians in hostile areas. UN does this. But hey, how do you instate banana republics then?
Yea not reading all that. I know it’s just your opinion. Facts are the military isn’t a murder machine. They serve the country in multiple areas. Many areas that don’t get credit. They also do a lot of harm. But the vast majority of soldiers are amazing people who do more good in their lifetime than I bet you probably do. Much of a soldier’s career is helping other people. You have a very simplistic understanding of what a military is.
Not reading all that
The most blatant evasion.
Short version personally for you: all good things military does are better done by other specially trained people. And they don’t need deadly weapons for this. Military doesn’t make sense outside killing context.
P.S. My dad served in the army before he disappeared, so I’m pretty sure I know a bit. I do not support this career, though.
Ah yeah the “I didn’t serve in the SS but the Wehrmacht” defense
Give it a rest. You’re closer to a Nazi then they are.
hows that lol
pronouns
You’re extremist that are driving politics to the fringes based on in/out group think. You’re highly exploitable and manipulated by people in power while believing you’re fighting for values that somehow superior to everyone and everything else. If you weren’t all so ineffective you’d be dangerous.
