Living Single in a Double World

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The original intention for this discussion was treatment received in restaurants when one is dining alone. However, this thought forced me to think about the many different situations and circumstances encountered by single people, myself included, that result in spending more money and receiving less respect than if married. Restaurants: A hostess will ask you how many in your party. When you reply 'one', you are automatically overlooked or asked to wait while she seats a party of two or more - generally these parties include children. When there is a table for one, it is located near the kitchen or restrooms. If you choose a smoking section, you can expect your table to be somewhere in the vicinity of the dumpster in the alley. Then there's the special restaurant coupons - half price or free dinner specials. Single diners can never take advantage of these offers. We pay full price! Always! Travel: Have you seen any ads for cruises or tours that enchant and entice you to travel the world for ten days on a luxurious ship or motor coach? See Europe! See the Galapagos! Tour the Pyramids! Have a Carribean Holiday! Read the fine print: if you happen to be traveling alone, there's a surcharge of $80 to $250 unless you are willing to be paired with a stranger. Airlines offer 'companion' fares for those 60 years old paying full price. It doesn't matter how old the companion is. I am now into my sixties and when I travel I enjoy traveling alone. I don't see any discounts for being able to take care of myself. But, of course, this isn't something new when you really think about it. Travel has always involved duos as far back as Biblical times. Noah was told to take two of all species. Do you think that's what happened to the dinosaurs? They were wiped out in the flood because two couldn't fit on the Ark and one didn't didn't want to share a stall. Or, that's why we now have strange animals like zebras, giraffs, emus, kangaroos, etc.: one of a species was paired with another to satisfy the double occupancy rule? Living Alone: The single person pays more in taxes. I don't care what country you happen to inhabit - tha's a fact. Is it any wonder why a 63 year old woman would submit herself to a pregnancy (as happened in Italy)? She was too old to adopt but she found a way to give birth. Some women that age said she was insane - actuall she is a genius! How about supermarket shopping for the single person? Have you recently tried to buy a four-pack of toilet tissue? It's sold sparingly and expensively but you can save beaucoup bucks if you buy a package of 24 rolls. There're cans of soup for individual servings - twice the price of a can of condensed soup that will serve four. But what do you do with leftover soup? I don't like to have it in my freezer and I don't cook enough to add it to anything. There're coupons for items 'buy one, get one free'. Usually the items are super=sized jars of mayonnaise, five pound hams, family-sized packages of frozen chicken nuggets, or 10 pounds of laundry detergent. What is a single person going to do with sales like that? If you live alone, house and car maintenance costs more because there are things that you can't manage yourself. I can change washers in my faucets and clean out the trap under my sink but I'm not going to repair a leaky roof. I can change a tire but not my oil. Not because I don't know how but because there's no place to do it since I don't have a garage. And living alone must automatically make you stupid because that's how you're treated by plumbers, mechanics, and contractors. If you're not on your guard, you end end up with more things broken and more out-of-pocket expense to correct the damage. Employment: Older, single workers have a very low rate of absenteeism mainly because they don't have families to care for. On the other side of the coin, you will find single people working odd shifts, holidays, weekends, and covering for fellow employee vacations. Why? Since single workers don't have children, they don't need to be home for the holidays and it doesn't matter what shifts they work. But if you're applying for a position as a single person, you have a 63% chance of being overlooked, regardless of your qualifications, for the person who has a family to support. So, living single does cost money whether it's town or country. Sometimes I feel, when I'm in an especially paranoid state of mind, that single people support the economy of the world as it is. Then, once again, I have to go back to Biblical times: HE was single and HE had to recruit 12 people to share expenses! Just remember: there are no FREE LUNCHES unless uou're the guest on the coupon.