Hello,
Emily and I recently had a picnic at
Sandy Point State Park, on Chesapeake Bay.
We were unpleasantly surprised to find a substantial increase in the entry fee over last summer's. Emily also noticed that this summer, we got no discount even though we arrived just a couple of hours before closing.
I responded that the sign showing the fees did not show a late-entry discount either last year or this one. She pointed out that we had in fact received a discount, to which I mentioned that the guard must have broken the rules.
(The following is a rough approximation of the rest of our conversation. And no, we didn't say anything NSFW anyway.)
Emily: "But isn't it unfair that we pay the same amount even though we're only going to be able to be there for maybe two hours?"
Jeff: "Sure it is. Tell that to the
Maryland General Assembly."
Emily: "If you were the guard, would
you give the discount if someone came within a few hours of closing?"
Jeff: "I would consider it unfair that the price would be the same. But as a guard, I'd have no authority to give personal discounts. So I couldn't do it."
Emily: "You wouldn't treat them fairly?"
Jeff: "I would abide by the ideas of fairness held by the people in charge, who answer to the taxpayers. If they don't think it's unfair to charge everyone the same rate no matter when they come in, I can't circumvent their judgment."
(Guess which one of us is a lawyer.)
What do you think?
