peeved, but should i be?

noah has been attending VBS (vacation bible school) at our church for the past three days.  in hawaii, we had vbs during the day with field trips and stuff, but here it's expected to take place in the evening with dinner and games.  at first, i thought it was weird to have that kind of activity at night, but it's been wonderful.  i can see how it's a helpful ministry to parents.  you drop off your kid(s) and they are fed, enriched and spiritually stimulated, while you go on a date, or in my case, to the mall or to the movies.  i'm sad it came to an end last night.  

on thursday night, i figured out that i could catch a screening of the newest harry potter movie if i dropped him off a wee bit early.  i calculated that i'd get out just in time to pick him up.  

C happened to be one of the teachers, so i dropped him off with her and booked it to the theater, which was kind of full, but it's always easy to find a spot of one.

anyways, at the ticket booth, i took out my money and military ID like i always do at the movies.  i never really know how much i save, but ever since i've had my ID, i've slipped it under the window to receive the discount they usually have for us military folk.  instead of receiving my ticket however, the long limbed teenage boy behind the counter lamely told me "sorry, we don't have anything for military."  

wha?  it seriously took me a minute to process what he said.  it was so unexpected.

eventually, i said "really?" as i took back my ID and he took my money and charged me for the regular general admission amount.  then suddenly  "that's horrible!" popped out of my mouth as i took the ticket and entered the theater.  as i bought my popcorn and found my seat, i wondered what i meant by "that's horrible!" seriously, it was a completely uninhibited reaction. 

part of me wanted to talk to the manager immediately and demand to know why they didn't have a military discount.  none of the other theaters that i've been to in southern california had decided it wasn't an important thing to have.  i wanted to know what made this theater decide that giving a military discount wasn't something they wanted to do. 

but then i wondered if i had any case at all.  i mean, it's a discount.  they don't HAVE to give one if they don't want to.  and what makes me so special anyway?  just because my husband is in iraq?  how would they know that anyway?  there isn't a big military population in the area, so maybe the discount doesn't get taken advantage of often enough.

in the end, i just let it be.  i was curious about the reason for the military being left out of the usual discount list of seniors and students, but i didn't have enough time to approach anyone.  and it felt funny to be so offended for not getting a couple of bucks shaved off.  

i don't know though.  if i find myself back at that theater often enough, i might approach someone just to ask WHY.  

oh, and just in case you are a member or dependent of the military and want to know which theater it is, it's the Brea Stadium theaters on Birch St.