Jestjoan
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Veteran's Day Free Meals and More
- Thread starter Jestjoan
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Thanks, Joan. I'm a retired Navy career veteran, and appreciate the acknowledgement. And a free lunch is, well, a free lunch. 
Dave
Dave
SueDonJ
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I heard a commercial yesterday advertising free oil changes for veterans at Meineke Car Care Centers: Yahoo Finance article
Be careful I bet that you are going to need wind shield blades after the oil change.
taterhed
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Westin WKORV OFD
Marriott's Grande Vista
Worldmark x2
SVV Bella 81k
And you're going to need Alka-Seltzer after that free lunch as well but, it's still a free oil change.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Fern Modena
TUG Lifetime Member
If you are in Las Vegas, and you are a Veteran, South Point Casino offers a free buffet, not only to the Veteran, but to their companion as well. They are the only ones I am aware of who do this.
Fern
Fern
Fern Modena
TUG Lifetime Member
We were "Out and About" at lunchtime today, and I thought we'd go to Red Lobster, since we hadn't been for ages.
Upon arrival we were asked if either of us were Veterans. My sister is. She was told that she could order any appetizer or dessert and there would be no charge! And it isn't even Veterans' Day yet.
While we were waiting for the Calamari, another person, who described herself as a "Service Specialist," came over and thanked my sister for her service. My sister had the perfect reply, "It was my Honor."
Fern
Upon arrival we were asked if either of us were Veterans. My sister is. She was told that she could order any appetizer or dessert and there would be no charge! And it isn't even Veterans' Day yet.
While we were waiting for the Calamari, another person, who described herself as a "Service Specialist," came over and thanked my sister for her service. My sister had the perfect reply, "It was my Honor."
Fern
VegasBella
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Carlsbad Inn
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Entrance is free to all National parks on Veterans Day. Not limited to vets, anyone can enter.
http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm
http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm
jimf41
TUG Member
My Army friends, retired and active, get together at a local Applebee's each year. It's very nice and the staff is wonderful. If we could just get the 63% of the eligible voters who were too busy to take the time to vote on Election Day maybe we wouldn't have to deploy so much.
Not starting a political discussion as I really don't care who you vote for as long as you show enough interest in your country to get out and vote one day a year.
Not starting a political discussion as I really don't care who you vote for as long as you show enough interest in your country to get out and vote one day a year.
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I went to Great Clips to get my free hair cut and they were very nice, thanking me and the other vets there for our service.
I then picked up my wife and we went to the Adult Day Care Center, a local bar that has free hot dogs and pop corn every day. I jokingly asked if they had free hot dogs for veterans today. The attendant (bar maid) looked a little confused then said, no, but you get a free beer.
Nice bonus for a place we go to often. We get 22 oz glasses of Goose Island IPA for $3 and my first one was free today. I love that place.
I then picked up my wife and we went to the Adult Day Care Center, a local bar that has free hot dogs and pop corn every day. I jokingly asked if they had free hot dogs for veterans today. The attendant (bar maid) looked a little confused then said, no, but you get a free beer.
Nice bonus for a place we go to often. We get 22 oz glasses of Goose Island IPA for $3 and my first one was free today. I love that place.
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We went to Olive Garden for the free entree. Holy cow, it was a zoo! Our local OG tends to be popular at dinnertime most any day, but I have never seen the kind of crowds like I saw tonight. They were packed to the rafters, and then some. Dozens of people waiting inside and even more outside, as there wasn't even standing room in the lobby waiting area. I heard the wait for a regular table was well over an hour. (Come on, people - it's Olive Garden, after all!)
We worked our way into the bar, and stood around waiting to swoop down on the first table that became empty. And we got lucky - within about ten minutes of arriving, we were seated at a table. I actually prefer eating in the bar - it's quieter, service tends to be better, and the food is exactly the same.
We had a nice meal, chatted with the General Manager for a bit, and had a pleasant time. The free entree plus additional 10% off the rest of the check made it a nice experience, and a very reasonable price. I am a generous tipper when I receive good service, and I made sure our server knew her efforts were appreciated.
Thank you, Olive Garden. This Veteran appreciates your gratitude. And somehow I think your bottom line for today won't even notice the free meals you gave away. Well done!
Dave
We worked our way into the bar, and stood around waiting to swoop down on the first table that became empty. And we got lucky - within about ten minutes of arriving, we were seated at a table. I actually prefer eating in the bar - it's quieter, service tends to be better, and the food is exactly the same.
We had a nice meal, chatted with the General Manager for a bit, and had a pleasant time. The free entree plus additional 10% off the rest of the check made it a nice experience, and a very reasonable price. I am a generous tipper when I receive good service, and I made sure our server knew her efforts were appreciated.
Thank you, Olive Garden. This Veteran appreciates your gratitude. And somehow I think your bottom line for today won't even notice the free meals you gave away. Well done!
Dave
Last edited:
puppymommo
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Our local news had a story last night about a veteran who tried to get a take-out meal at two separate restaurants and was turned down. He said his PTSD prevents him from being around large groups of people. I wonder if the restaurants will change their policy next year, as they got a lot of bad publicity.
I went the local route for Veteran's day bennies. Got a 2# block of locally produced cheddar cheese for $5 instead of $7. Got the car washed free, and went to my neighborhood BBQ joint for a half rack of ribs (DW got the other half) and a Going to The Sun, Montana IPA to wash it down for half price.
I wore a Vet's T-shirt, and flashed my Lifetime Member VFW card for proof, and was thanked for my service wherever I went. Kind of embarrassing, really- I'm not used to the attention.
All in all, a nice 1/365th of a year.
Jim
I wore a Vet's T-shirt, and flashed my Lifetime Member VFW card for proof, and was thanked for my service wherever I went. Kind of embarrassing, really- I'm not used to the attention.
All in all, a nice 1/365th of a year.
Jim
Fern Modena
TUG Lifetime Member
Jim,
Instead of being embarrassed when people thank you (and I do understand why), you might try responding, "It was my honor to serve my country," or a variable of that.
Fern
Instead of being embarrassed when people thank you (and I do understand why), you might try responding, "It was my honor to serve my country," or a variable of that.
Fern
Fern Modena
TUG Lifetime Member
We went to Red Robin for late lunch yesterday, and I do mean late. We got there at 12:50pm and there was "a 20 minute wait for tables." Our Red Robin is huge, so you can imagine they were getting slammed. From the time we entered until we had our food was well over an hour. But that's OK, as I said, they were really busy. I think it is perhaps the busiest day they've ever had.
The food offered was a free "Tavern Burger." It is their lowest priced burger, and our favorite, in part because they offer it "pigout style" as an add on. Pigout style includes two strips of bacon and bacon aioli sauce. Plus the bottomless fries, of course. I eat half the bun and four fries. Just my style. Irene eats all of hers.
They have that tablet-style on the table checkout now. I hate it and try not to use it. The waitress almost insisted, and wanted to show Irene how to use it. Irene is really low tech, so as she showed her, I told the waitress it wouldn't do any good. She continued anyway, and then left with the check displayed and said she'd be back for payment.
Wowie! The bill was $37.!!! I looked closer and it had a jr. burger, jr. chicken on it and two burgers, one free. Then I looked over to the family next to us and asked if those were their items, cause I think our machine had their check on it. They said it was true. So I told a runner, who took it to the waitress, mentioning that she had put our loyalty number on this check and would have to fix it. I think they were having a problem with many of the machines, because I saw runners taking machines back and forth. We finally got our bill, it was for $13.
Was it a mess there? Yes it was, but we managed, no problem. We understand that it is probably the most popular place for Vets with kids to take kids, and a lot of senior vets were there, too. We do thank Red Robin for being so generous to us.
And for those of you interested, they are offering 20% off everything to Vets through the end of December.
Fern
The food offered was a free "Tavern Burger." It is their lowest priced burger, and our favorite, in part because they offer it "pigout style" as an add on. Pigout style includes two strips of bacon and bacon aioli sauce. Plus the bottomless fries, of course. I eat half the bun and four fries. Just my style. Irene eats all of hers.
They have that tablet-style on the table checkout now. I hate it and try not to use it. The waitress almost insisted, and wanted to show Irene how to use it. Irene is really low tech, so as she showed her, I told the waitress it wouldn't do any good. She continued anyway, and then left with the check displayed and said she'd be back for payment.
Wowie! The bill was $37.!!! I looked closer and it had a jr. burger, jr. chicken on it and two burgers, one free. Then I looked over to the family next to us and asked if those were their items, cause I think our machine had their check on it. They said it was true. So I told a runner, who took it to the waitress, mentioning that she had put our loyalty number on this check and would have to fix it. I think they were having a problem with many of the machines, because I saw runners taking machines back and forth. We finally got our bill, it was for $13.
Was it a mess there? Yes it was, but we managed, no problem. We understand that it is probably the most popular place for Vets with kids to take kids, and a lot of senior vets were there, too. We do thank Red Robin for being so generous to us.
And for those of you interested, they are offering 20% off everything to Vets through the end of December.
Fern
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I dislike those machines, too, since I think it takes away from the idea of being served in a sit-down restaurant. If I want self-service I'll go elsewhere. Part of my discussion with the General Manager of the Olive Garden I visited was about this very thing, since our server insisted we "had" to use it. I expressed to the GM that I work in IT, and I'm very tech savvy, but I think they're doing themselves a disservice having them so prominent like that.
The GM explained that they nearly have to have them now, and soon will need to, because of the new chip-and-pin credit cards. They aren't supposed to be taking the card out of sight of the patron, and these kiosk tablets are the way to do that. It made sense, and for as much as I dislike the process, I think we're stuck with them.
So I think it's going to become more common in the future.
Dave
Kozman
TUG Member
I guess they got a lot of good will advertising from that ad. However, I called on Monday to get info and they had already allocated the 13 free changes. Another location said first come first serve. Depending on your location you could drive 10 miles and find you are the 50th in line. LOL! I passed. If sincere, they could have issued rain checks. But why oppose anything free.