robjame

As an addendum to Patrick's point - I often think about how I could have used that "Seniors' discount" when we were stuggling with a young family....
I also have a little problem with being fortunate enough to be able to travel and then milking the system for a discount that is meant for the citizens of that country - they earned it, they paid their taxes over the years.
I think the French cover this well by requiring a special seniors card for discounted train travel.

MikeT

The polite way to ask in French is not to ask. Unless you speak French, you probably shouldn't be asking for a senior discount in France.

If you can afford to travel there, you don't need the 10% discount. Have some dignity.

kerouac

Robjame, the French have probably helped their birthrate just by having thought of discounts for young families -- any family with at least 3 children gets all sorts of discounts in France ("familles nombreuses&quot.

Barbara

kerouac, don't they offer those discounts precisely to encourage people to have more children because the French birthrate is very low?

Sue4

Mike T, if "senior" tourists in the U.S. can get discounts, what's wrong with us "old" tourists in France doing the same? I think things should work both ways!

Pvoyageuse

kerouac, don't they offer those discounts precisely to encourage people to have more children because the French birthrate is very low?


You'll be surprised, it is the highest in Europe.

Pvoyageuse

Robjame, the French have probably helped their birthrate just by having thought of discounts for young families -- any family with at least 3 children gets all sorts of discounts in France ("familles nombreuses&quot.

Sure, nothing better than saving a few € a year to make you decide to have a more kids!

kerouac

Yes, France does indeed have the highest birthrate in Europe. And it also has the highest percentage of working mothers in Europe, precisely because it made having children compatible with having a career.

lmlweb

Sue4,

Just because it can be done in one country doesn't mean that it must be done in the other country. Each countries have their own laws and traditions (benefits if you will), and one shouldn't' expect their own country's law to trump the host country's law. If one country's senior discount laws means you have to have a valid senior card issued by that country, then so be it. Their priority is to their own citizens and if that's the best way they can care for their seniors, who are we to be critical or indigant if we can't get a senior discount?

elina

I am interested in trivia, so just out of curiosity I checked the European birth rates. France is 5th. Higher birthrate is in Albania and Moldova (we know why), Ireland (we know why) and Iceland (that we don´t know why).

lyban

I went back to the web site I posted above to explain my retired persons discount, and if you are reading the english version it uses the word retired and if you click onto the french version it used the word chomage which means unemployed.
Either way we got the discount by handing in our paper printed from the web in the english format.

Sue4

lmlweb, I did not mean that France SHOULD give discounts to retired tourists. I was answering Mike's sentence "have some dignity", which I took to mean, don't ask. I disagree that it is "undignified" to ask if they give discounts. If they don't, OK, but if they do, so much the better. I believe that the French need our tourism dollars just as much as we need theirs (more!). I don't believe that most American tourists are "indignant" to be denied the senior reduction, (I'm certainly not), but rather, pleased when they get it. And lyban, I'm glad you got the discount at the Opera Garnier!

robjame

<<When we asked she said no that there was only one rate. I showed her my paper that I had printed from the web and she then so OK>>
I think we should be clear that it appears from Coco's translation that the mistake seems to be in the translation from French to English on the website.

<< Standing up for your rights. Good for you. Those civil servants do not know what "polite" means.>>
at least in this case the civil servant seems to be standing up for the tourist and there is no indication from lyban that the civil servant was impolite

LucieV

MikeT, I agree. That's what I was trying to suggest when I initially posted (the 4th post after op.)

lmlweb

Sue4, I stand corrected. Thanks!

NeoPatrick

I think the idea that not asking for a discount if one is normally offered or given has little or nothing to do with dignity.
That's like saying it's undignified to use Priceline or to ask for an AAA discount at any hotel that offers one. Or that it would be undignified to look for the super saver air fare. How silly!

These boards are filled with thousands of posts from people asking how to get better prices on everything from flights to hotels to restaurants to attractions. Are you really suggesting all those people lack dignity?

Demanding a discount that clearly doesn't apply to you is different, but I sure don't know how the conversation turned to that. The original post clearly said "if a senior discount is available."

MikeT your comment "if you can afford to travel there you don't need the discount" indicates you happily pay 10% on all your currency transactions too, right? After all if you can afford to go, you can certainly afford to do that. What an odd bit of logic all this is. How in the world is asking for a discount that is possibly even advertised and standard procedure a bad thing?

MikeT

Actually, I think it is unbecoming to ask for unadvertised upgrades or discounts in almost any situation unless you are in a barter ecnonomy.

That said, nickle and diming museums, concerts and public monuments when yoiu've just paid $1000 to fly to Europe just seems odd to me. And a little unseemily.

If it's advertised, then ask away. But to ask where the is no indication one is available (and you can't even speak the language) seems lacking in dignity.

robjame

<<How in the world is asking for a discount that is possibly even advertised and standard procedure a bad thing?>>
...because it is a translation error on a website
The discount is meant for (Presumably French) people who are out of work not tourists who happen to be of a certain age.
Admittedly in this case lyban did not know.
And to counter a possible argument, businesses in the US all the time refuse to honor mistakes in flyers, ads etc.

LucieV

NeoP, I see your point. When I was a student and travelled abroad, I had no hesitation asking for student discounts. But I guess now that I'm reasonably self-sufficient, I just feel uncomfortable asking for discounts on nominal items when I'm not in my own country. Just me.

NeoPatrick

robjame, please go back and read the original post. This is not about a single discount for a single thing that was badly translated.

I was assuming that "have some dignity" line was meant to apply to the original post -- which is still, I believe, the MAIN question here.