This is a joke that my sister forwarded me in an email. Is this funny? Why is it funny? If it was about some other group rather than seniors would it still be funny? Why?
The Hotel Bill
Next time you think your hotel bill is too high, you might want to consider this:
My wife and I are traveling by car from Victoria to Prince George. After almost eleven hours on the road, we were too tired to continue, and decide to take a room. But, we only planned to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road. When we checked out four hours later, the desk clerk hands us a bill for $350.00.
I explode and demand to know why the charge is so high. I tell the clerk although it's a nice hotel; the rooms certainly aren't worth $350.00 Then the clerk tells me that $350.00 is the 'standard rate'.I insisted on speaking to the Manager.
The Manager appears, listens to me, and then explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge conference center that were available for us to use. "But we didn't use them.''
"Well, they are here, and you could have," explains the Manager.
He goes on to explain we could also have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is famous. "We have the best entertainers from New York , Hollywood , and Las Vegas perform here," the Manager says.
"But we didn't go to any of those shows," ."Well, we have them, and you could have," the Manager replies.
No matter what amenity the Manager mentions, I reply, "But we didn't use it!"
The Manager is unmoved, and eventually I gave up and agreed to pay.
I write a check and give it to the Manager.
The Manager is surprised when he looks at the check. "But sir, this cheque is only made out for $50.00.'' "That's correct, as I charged you $300.00 for sleeping with my wife."
"But I didn't!' exclaims the Manager.
"Well, too bad, she was here, and you could have."
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Don't mess with Senior Citizens
I thought this joke was funny!! I thought it was funny because the ending wasn't what I expected. I've personally experienced senior citizens causing a scene over prices,discounts,etc. (although in this particular situation $350 was unreasonable) so with this joke I could just imagine the intensity of the conversation between the manager and senior citizen & the managers facial expression after the senior citizens final remark.
I think this joke would still be funny with another group of people. It would be funny for a young or middle-aged couple because it's the plot of the joke not necessarily the age that makes the joke funny!!
Yea the joke is pretty good. Im not normally one for the traditional style joke but I appreciate the sense of satisfaction of getting a jab at someone who is trying to scam you. Or maybe it's more like getting a jab at the whole system that tries to scam you every day. In either case the age made little difference for me personally. I didn't even realize it was a joke about old people until the second reading. (it takes me a few) It's not like 350$ is a little change, i would be upset in that situation and I don't consider myself particularly geezer-like. I do understand the attempt to poke fun with this common stereotype that old people are cheap, but to what degree do these stereotypes affect our views? I mean the attempt to play up the stinginess of the couple because of their age was lost on me at first. But i think that i would have made that connection immediately if the group targeted was say, the jewish community. I've already been primed with so many references to this racial stereotype that my mind makes the connection even before i finish reading the joke, even if it's not the punch line its the one I anticipate. And another thing, if the joke did target jews I have a feeling it would be considered much more offensive. Why is it that we can poke fun at age without really worrying about the consequences but everyone treads so softly around race and creed.
This is a slick/cool joke. To make the joke even better the hotel manager should have said (after the check was wrote)they don't have to check out yet so there is still time to use any of the amentities that were just offered. I wonder what the hotel manager will be doing while the husband is using the Olympic-sized pool or one of the many other amenities offered.
I thought that the joke was funny because I wasn't expecting that punch line. I also think the joke would have been funny even if it wasn't about senior citizens; I think the joke is funnier because of that fact, but I don't think it would be unfunny, if a different age group was used. If I would have imagined the joke using a younger couple, I still would have laughed at it.
I also think that this joke is a good example or representation of the Superiority/ Disparagement Theory. It's got a little bit of competition thrown in there between the hotel clerk and man checking out. You could also look at it as being a representation of the psychoanalytic theory as well because of the punchline.
This joke was pretty funny because it had an interesting and sarcastic punchline, but it's not really my typical type of humor. I usually prefer jokes to be a little more colorful, but this is a nice humorous one you could tell your grandma or anyone in almost any situation. I might have missed a part, but I didn't really feel like this joke was openly about senior citizens; therefore, yes, I think that this joke would be just as funny even if it was about a different social group. I think that it would still be funny if it was about a different group because the material for the joke isn't really age specific. The punchline would be just as funny if not more funny even if it was said by a newly married couple. I feel that this joke relates well to the material we are reading right now in class because of how it shows examples of different arousal elements in order to hook the listener. For example, the element of surprise that was brought by the elderly man's punchline.