(This post has been in draft form for a week. The Sister and I emailed back and forth, she suggested I might blog about the coffee issue, I told her the article was already written. A day or so later, I told her that I had decided not to post this, as I might be seen not as funny, but just mean. She replied, Post it; now I am curious. So now... )
Due to circumstances beyond her control, Sister has been temporarily deprived of internet service at home. Thus she sent out an email, a flyer to her contacts, requesting that they use a gmail address since she would have to go to Starbucks for internet connections.
I fired back, "You could go to Mickey Dee's."
Now, that's funny. But apparently the sibling did not see it that way, for she wrote back informing me that there were many places available to the public for free internet access, even naming some of them.
My point was that one can go to Starbucks and get a two-dollar cup of coffee (or whatever it is: I don't go there) or one could go to McD's, ask for the senior coffee, and get a better cup for 53 or 64 cents, or whatever the rate is at the local store.
I started a "senior coffee"1 search on the web, and next thing I know I am finding reams of blog stories by distraught forty-something women who have been offered "senior coffee."2 Oh, the insult. My word. One would think that saving a few cents on a cup of coffee might somehow bring the world economy to its knees. I INSIST that I pay full price for my caffeine.
Now, my sister is a reader of my blog. I truly appreciate that. She is about the only family member who reads this regularly.
There is nothing but love and blog fodder going on here. I still think one gets a better cup at McDonalds, and coffee for under a buck is always better.3
1Regular readers know my distaste for the designation of the elderly as "seniors." Yet one cannot make waves when he needs coffee.
2In order to avoid just such scenes, most places have advised their wait staff that they are never to offer senior discounts. The customer must ask for it. Thus, when I approach the counter I simply say, "Two senior coffees to go, please."
3As usual, one should be careful in the use of the word "always." I distinctly recall a bad cup of coffee in a McD's far from home. It was fresh, too, for I watched the employee set it up and waited for it to drip. Must have been the water.
11 comments:
McD's coffee is pretty good, but I'll always take a cup from Dunkin' Donuts over it. I wouldn't know, of course, whether there's a senior cup at DD.
There's a DD around the corner from my house, and a Starbucks on the opposite corner. Guess which one I never visit.
McDs coffee used to be terrible, but they've been working on changing that. Doesn't matter, I hardly ever eat there. I like the senior rate at the movie theater. It means we can actually see a movie a couple of times a year.
When my husband turned 50 a couple of years ago, he was quick to sign up for AARP and anything else he thought could get him a discount. As a result, we get much junk mail offering scooters, hospital beds, lifts to get into bathtubs, etc.
He's still happy that it sometimes brings him a .50 savings somewhere.
Good coffee requires good water. Also good beans proper temp for the water and proper extraction time. Most coffee I drink away from home seems mediocre. Your mileage may vary.
Jim, I think I have never tried DD, but I have heard that the coffee is good. Problem: I'd want a donut to go with.
Shark, we almost never eat at McD's, but while on the road we will stop for two senior coffees to go.
Shelly, after a quarter century of membership, I let same lapse for reasons I won't go into. However, that did not stop the mailings, but now about twice a week a reminder that I need to pay up.
Chuck, with a daughter in the gourmet coffee business, I have been made aware of the fact that I am a plebeian who simply uses coffee as the least expensive caffeine delivery system.
I haven't been in a McD in oh some 20 years - was never a patron even before then but when you are traveling I95 in Vermont and have children with you - well, McD's it is.
I love my senior discounts - I'll take a discount on anything for any reason! (In Phila - you ride mass transit free, here in NoVA you ride for half price. Thursday is senior discount day at the supermarket - hey that 3% is better in my pocket than theirs!)
You already know my opinion on Starbucks (low) and coffee in general!
Grace, this household hits the supermarket on senior discount day, too. Last time I took a grandkid to McD, he, about nine years old, didn't want the kid's meal. Oh, no. The full way-too-big sandwich, whatever it is called, along with fries. He ate about two bites of burger and three french fries. Little snipe now has three kids of his own. Serves him right.
I don't like McDonald's coffee, so whatever the price, it is too much. I'm a Dunkin' Donuts gal, and I will admit to loving a few of the Starbuck's lines--Casi Cielo, Tribute. That said, I brew it at home to save a few pennies.
Lin, with 21,000 stores, it is clear that there are people who like Starbucks. You are one of them.
I'm unpacking boxes and haven't been on the internet much. If you think McD has a good senior deal, we ordered coffee at a Burger King in Colorado Springs not long before we moved and it was free. Can't beat that.
Vee, certainly can't beat the price!
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