A couple of years ago, I got an odd discount at KFC.  I was placing my order with the clerk at the register when I noticed something briefly flash across the screen.  When I got my receipt, I realized it was a senior discount.  I didn’t have to show a Golden Buckeye or AARP card – the clerk looked at me and decided I qualified.  I was 50 at the time and the discounts are for those 55 and older.  So he was close, I guess, but it still rankled.  I even made a haiku about it.

It was a more reasonable assumption than back when I was 43 and was mistaken for 55.

This past weekend, Jim and I were at Michael’s craft store.  He was ready to go and I went to the I’m-assuming-quicker self-checkout since I only had three items and the only lane open with a clerk had two people with full carts.

I scanned the first item and set it aside. I then scanned the second item and looked at the screen to see if the sale price rang up.  It was instead 4 times what I expected – it wasn’t half-off like the sign on the shelf suggested and I had rung it up twice.

I tried to cancel and edit the quantity – but it just said, “Help is on the way!”

Which means I had failed as a human being. 

While I was waiting for “help”, I saw on the screen that I had gotten a senior discount – 10% off each of the items. While I was puzzling that out, a clerk came up and performed her incantations. I also had her deactivate the anti-theft on one of the items while I scanned the last one.

I finished and paid as the clerk was coming back and I bagged my three items and took the receipt. 

Sure enough, 10% senior discount.    But, why?

I hadn’t thought to put in my phone number so it didn’t really know me – I’m guessing they have my birthday stored somewhere, but there was no look up.  And the discount appeared before I used my credit card – so, they didn’t even know my name by that point.

And then I realized.

I was on camera.

And an A.I. had taken one look at me and decided I was a senior citizen.

Human beings, I suppose, I can forgive for seeing the gray beard and wrinkles near my eyes and assuming I’m older than I am.  Or maybe it was my jaunty hat that seemed dated. 

But this really stung.  I had been reduced to key biometric points and classified as…senior.

I suppose it was bound to happen and there are worse things than getting 10% off for no reason.  But, I don’t feel as old as I am and it seems disrespectful to make assumptions.  Or to program a machine to make assumptions, I guess.

In the end, I have the supplies I need for a couple of projects and I saved $1.50

Which I suppose I can use to get my senior coffee at McDonald’s.