To wonder why people are jealous of discounts for employees

[FluffyKittensinabasket]

I’m a key worker (not NHS) and entitled to a Blue Light Card and Defence Discount Card. The discounts are actually pretty good right now because of Covid19.

One of my friends said that it was ridiculous that I was claiming discounts and that they should only be for the police, fire service or NHS and capped at 10%. She said it’s daft to get discounts for doing a job you’ve chosen to do.

I pointed out that airline staff get travel discounts, rail workers get free rail travel and retail staff get store discounts. She is a SAHM and said discounts should be illegal.

She now isn’t speaking to me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Jenasaurus]

Also a lot of stores will give you a discount if you ask, whatever your situation. I know its not the done thing, but I have a friend that always asks and often gets one, especially if she is ordering a lot. She bought a couple of laptops for her DS's and asked if she could have a discount and they said she could have a printer or headphones for free, so sometimes its worth asking.

[Jenasaurus]

The military do get discounts too I beleive, in fact I went into one shop, cant remember which and asked if I get a discount as Im NHS and they said only armed services, so they do get them too

[Jenasaurus]

OK I have just tested out my theory that the public get the same or even better discounts than blue light card. Currently they are offering 51% off all non sale items at Nasty Gal, I went on filled my basket and the items come to £133, I then took off the discount and as everything in store is 50% off plus you can use the code GOGOGO to get another 10% off it came to £122, you cant use the GOGOGO code on top of the blue light one so the public is better off, there are loads of examples like this, so please dont feel hard done by

[vanillandhoney]

@Divoc2020

Thing is, these days you can pretty much find a discount code for ANYTHING if you're willing to spend 5 minutes googling.

It's something I've drilled into my student children - if you're paying full price for something like a pizza you're probably paying for someone else's discount.

Yep, this is so true.

I don't buy anything online without looking for a discount code first.

[FluffyKittensinabasket]

The people saying I’m a frother - nope, I just don’t spend all my time on MN to post back instantly.

A couple of people have said people shouldn’t be entitled to discounts. That is of course your opinion. But we DO get discounts and they aren’t going to go away. There are many discount schemes for all sorts of employees.

Why should the discount only be for the emergency services? What about the military? Mi5/Mi6/GCHQ employees? Millions of people work in jobs keeping the UK safe. 10% off at Starbucks is a welcome discount I’m sure.

[Jenasaurus]

I have a Blue Light Card and have noticed that all the discounts seem to be the same as what other people get but in a different format. For example a 20% discount at ASOS, you go on ASOS and there is a code for the general public that gives the same discount. I wanted to check out the new phone with the Apple Discount offered on Blue Light Card, went onto the website and then wanted to click on the option for 0% payments, but that offer isnt there for people with the 10% discount just the public, so there are plus and minus for all, the only ones i use now are the ones you can get gift cards/shopping cards like 6% of Sainsburys and then use the card at the store. I appreciate the offers but if you add something like the Honey Discount Finder App you will also find a good discount.

[RaininSummer]

I think some discounts, like the mortgage one above, are so amazing and practically life changing that it is hard not to feel a bit envious. I am always in envy of a friend who gets free train travel through her husband. Having never worked anywhere with perks or discounts i am often amazed by them.

[Cramitmaam]

Don’t mention the cheap mortgage rates that bank staff get she’ll explode. I reckon we’ve saved at least £30k in interest so far.

I didn't know about this! That's great!

Ok, NOW I understand why OP's mate gets jealous of staff discounts...

[Divoc2020]

Thing is, these days you can pretty much find a discount code for ANYTHING if you're willing to spend 5 minutes googling.

It's something I've drilled into my student children - if you're paying full price for something like a pizza you're probably paying for someone else's discount.

[Elai1978]

Don’t mention the cheap mortgage rates that bank staff get she’ll explode. I reckon we’ve saved at least £30k in interest so far.

[echt]

echt I bet you spend a lot more of your own money on stuff for school than you save in red biros to use when you do your marking. At home. With you paying for your own heating and lighting

On behalf of my teacher colleagues in the UK, thank you, julybabyb32. Like them, when I taught in the UK I spent personal money to maintain my classroom, decorate it, though never to to the extent I see has become the norm since I left.

Now my employers give me a laptop for my work (though the fuckers had to be taken to court by my union to stop them from making me rent it), a new one every three years, and I can claim tax on my broadband. Additionally when we went into lockdown, all teachers were given startup money to cover initial expenses and a weekly sum to cover the heating and lighting, etc. None of it munificent but entirely the right thing to do and what should have been the case for teachers in the UK.

[vanillandhoney]

People are bonkers. Discounts are available for all sorts of people. Where I used to work, we had the following discounts:

Blue Light
Armed Forces
Ramblers
British Mountaineering
Locals discount
Student discount
BBC employee
BBC pension
BMW membership
Employee discount

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. There were plenty more through various adverts, magazines and local groups. Plus we had a button to give anyone a discount if we wanted to!

[Fishfingersandwichplease]

What a strange opinion she has!! Sounds a bit jealous to me! But if she decides not to talk to you over it,let her crack on!!

[areallthenamesusedup]

Hey OP: Mature student here. I get loads of discount on just about everything!

Send your mate to me and I will really get her annoyed!

[notthemum]

@ifailed 😂😂😂

[Goyle]

I work in public transport and we have a staff discount scheme giving us 5-20% off all kinds of things. I share the benefits with my family. But then I'm also a holiday club member and use Groupon a lot. The perks are there for everyone if you are willing to give up your email address. and be used as a data mined practice hamster

[Viviennemary]

I agree. I don't see why they should get discounts. I'm not jealous of them though.

[Bluntness100]

She thinks discounts should be Illegal and she won’t talk to you because you get them?

That’s as batshit as it gets.

[TowelHoarder]

That is too funny! Some people have really weird jealousy issues.

I used to work in a call centre that outsourced to other companies, so different contracts had different working hours and pay depending on what the client wanted.

We had two energy suppliers, one was more well known than the other and the more well known one had difficult sales targets and required weekend working whereas the other was just short calls giving out info. The more well known one paid a basic salary of £1,000 a year more.

Several people on the easier contract put complaints in to management that it wasn’t fair and everyone on the other contract should be paid the same as them (ie £1,000 per year LESS) to make it fair. I never once heard them ask for their own pay to be increased, which to me would be the obvious request. I mean who’d want to work for a company that would retrospectively reduce your pay?

[PlanBea]

When I worked in banking I got 25% off my Orange phone contract, for no obvious reason, among other discounts. I might have been a lowly admin then but even investment bankers on 6 figure bonuses would have got it too.

Now I pay my £5 for my blue light card and got 5% off my new living room furniture. It's not exactly the reason I joined the NHS...

[WhySoSexist]

Given that she's being so rude, maybe say that, as a SAHM, her entire life is a discount.
For the record, I don't believe this to be true and completely understand the work that SAHM's do and the value they add to their families and society - I just think it'd be a nice snap-back to knock her off her high horse.

[LegitSnack]

I get 5% off a new build house 😬

[LabradorGalore]

@okiedokieme - that’s not true at all. My senior consultant was redeployed onto a Covid ward. She is bloody brilliant but also massively at risk. She deserves every penny and more of her NHS wage and discounts if they’re offered to her.

I’m amazed people would begrudge doctors discounts - did the sympathy of the horrors they’ve faced wear off that quickly?!

[Divoc2020]

Last year I was doing an online uni course, so qualified for student discounts. I had a friend who was outraged for some reason that I could get discounts off my contact lenses or at Pizza Express.

She said it was 'disgraceful' and that they should be only for 'proper students' .