military discounts

so one of my army wife friends and i took our sons to the local aquarium the other day. she's still fairly new to the whole 'army' lifestyle and discounts for having an id card because our spouses are defending our country. so we approach the ticket window and notice no mention on the pricing sign about military discounts. as she tells the ticket agent that it'll be her and her son, i remind her to ask about a military discount. now this aquarium, like many zoos i've come across this summer, does not offer a military discount.

now, i have to admit that from time-to-time, i have spoken in a loud enough voice for all to hear to my son about how disappoint i am in an establishment that they do not offer a discount. the dialogue usually goes as so: 'that's awful that they don't offer a military discount, especially since daddy can't be here to enjoy say zoo with us.' of course by the time i'm done, i have the whole line of moms staring down the agent with the whole, 'come on, her husband is deployed and she's taking their kid by herself to the zoo while the rest of us are here with our whole families. give her a break.' now, i must say, i've only it done it while aaron's been deployed. i'm not brazen enough to even consider it when aaron comes home.

back to the aquarium. before i could finish my whole dramatic speech about us being military spouses of deployed soldiers trying to take our children to the aquarium so that they aren't sitting at home missing daddy, the ticket agent simply said, 'the aquarium may not believe in military discounts, but i do.' and with that, we had ourselves free passes in! many thanks to the awesome gentleman!

so, that leaves me thinking though. what entitles us to discounts at various establishments including stores, hotels, amusement parks and such, while those in other lines of duty do not receive the same discount? not that i'm complaining, i'll take 10% at the converse store and a discounted hotel stay at the double tree hotel anytime. but do firefighters get discounts? what about emts? i know teachers, being a former teacher, receive many nice discounts, especially when it comes to items for the classroom. but, what makes teachers and military different from others?