Re-titled Those Entitled

(My mother lost her sight in her sixties. She can see well enough to get to and from the ladies’ rooms at restaurants, however, and does not look her age. She is waiting in line at the ladies’ room. There is a young woman with a small daughter who was really in desperate need of the bathroom.)

Mom: “Can I suggest you go ahead of me?”

Young Mother: “Oh, really? Thank you so much!”

(As they were waiting for whoever was in the bathroom, a tour bus pulls up outside and disgorges a crowd of rather entitled senior citizens. The women in the group charge the bathroom. One of them leads the attack and begins to shove my mother, the very desperate little girl, and her mother, out of the way.)

Senior Lady: “I’m sorry, but you will have to get out of the way! We need to use this bathroom. WE are senior citizens!”

Mom: “I’m sorry, but WE were here first.”

Senior Lady: “I don’t think you understand. We are on a trip and we are senior citizens and we are ENTITLED to your respect! Now, you have to get out of the way.”

Mom: “So you’re a senior citizen?”

Senior Lady: “Yes.”

Mom: “How old are you?”

Senior Lady: “I am 64 years old.”

Mom: “Well, I am 73, I have had open heart surgery, and I am blind. I believe I outrank you, so you can all just wait your turn.”

(There is a lot of muttering, but in the end the little girl got in the bathroom first. Her mom thanked mine profusely.)