My Senior Moment

Summary

An individual recounts their experience of turning into a senior during the COVID-19 lockdown, humorously noting the unexpected benefit of being "carded" for their age while attempting to take advantage of senior discounts.

Abstract

The author describes the unconventional milestone of becoming a senior citizen during the pandemic, which thwarted their plan to celebrate by visiting stores offering senior discounts. Instead, they found themselves in a dedicated early morning shopping hour for seniors, where they were surprisingly asked for age verification by a skeptical young employee. The experience of being carded at this stage in life was received with shock and delight, providing an unexpected birthday gift that the author preferred over the intended discounts.

Opinions

The author humorously compares their plan to celebrate becoming a senior with their children's legal drinking age celebrations, albeit with a different expected outcome.
There is a hint of pride as the author mentions their appearance (swimmer's body, mostly brown hair) suggests they could pass for younger from a distance.
The author is amused and pleased by the young employee's demand for proof of age, seeing it as a positive affirmation of their youthful appearance.
The author seems to take the situation in stride, finding joy in the unexpected request for identification despite the initial scowl from the young man.

My Senior Moment

In The Age of Covid-19

I officially became a senior shortly after my city went into lockdown due to the global pandemic

This ruined my birthday plan — to google every store within reasonable driving distance that offered a seniors discount and pay them a visit. This was not much different than each of my kids visiting multiple bars on the day they reached the legal drinking age. But obviously, hoping for a different outcome.

Now, the only option to exercise my new right was to grocery shop between 7 am and 8 am, an hour dedicated to us old folks.

I parked my car in the mostly deserted lot at 6:58 am and took my place in line. We all stood patiently, on the designated, appropriately distanced marks on the sidewalk, waiting to be admitted by an employee standing guard at the door.

Looking around, I noticed that I was the only one not sporting wrap around sunglasses or a walking aid, but didn’t think much of it.

Finally, my turn. The young man looked me up and down, scowling.

“Proof of age”, he demanded, making no effort to disguise his disapproval.

I’ll admit, from a distance I might hide my age — swimmer's body, mostly brown hair- but up close, there is no hiding the decades of life experiences that are etched on my face.

So, you can imagine my shock and delight!

Not the birthday gift I had in mind, but I’ll take “being carded “over a discount any day of the year.