Sir: A Pakistani friend of mine who lives in the US was recently waiting in line behind an older gentleman at a restaurant when he heard him ask for his senior discount. The girl at the register apologised and charged him less. When he asked the man what the discount was about, he told him that seniors over the age of 55 get 10 percent off of everything on the menu in that restaurant every day. This incident prompted him to do some research, and he came across a big list of restaurants, fast food chains, supermarkets, grocery, department, medical, retail and apparel stores, travel deals, entertainments and many other types of offers, which give various discounts for different age requirements from the age of 55 and up. He was actually surprised to see how many there were and how some of them started even at the age of 50! Upon further research, my friend found that this practice of ‘honouring’ senior citizens was quite in vogue in many western countries and was considered as a mark of their being civilised. Could we also become civilised by introducing a ‘silver card’ for our senior citizens over the age of 55 and a ‘gold card’ for over the age of 65, which could fetch them proportionate discounts, say 10 percent and 20 percent respectively at certain places in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan?
RIAZ JAFRI
Via e-mail
Questionable role of the media