KENTUCKY Fried Chicken (KFC’s) refusal to grant take-out food discounts for senior citizens reminds us that there are laws meant to help the elderly in our community. To deny them of food discounts is antithetical to our tradition of compassion, respect, and generosity for old people. I salute Atty. Nelson Paraiso for fighting KFC’s anti-senior policy.

        Old people, too fearful to speak-out, had been embarrassed repeatedly each time they were denied of discounts the law promised. Stores unfairly suspected them of sharing take-out food with others ---KFC’s misplaced worry of discount “abuse.”

        Doesn’t this suspicion make us look stingy? Don’t we see the virtue of sharing food which we buy so others might be freed of hunger? Aren’t we appalled by demanding that seniors must eat in the store premises---sometimes too crowded, noisy, and oven-hot, in order to avail of their discount?

        If KFC-Naga thinks it would lose on giving take-out food discounts, there’s a reasonable way of pegging prices to meet profit targets. Rather than circumventing the law, mistreating the elderly, shrinking the volume of food servings, and cleverly filling bread with air, KFC and other restaurants must honestly balance their business with profit. The 20% senior citizen discount is among the few perks our old people are left with to enjoy.



AUGUSTO F. MESIA, M.D.
Astoria, New York