Last week, state lawmakers waited for dark and descended into the sewers to pass a surprise pension overhaul. Since then, several local businesses have responded by offering discounts to teachers. On March 30, downtown bar Meta posted “Matt Bevin is trash. Teachers get 50% off tonight at Meta” on Facebook, prompting 877 reactions — the vast majority of them likes or hearts. To put that in perspective, the previous three posts Meta made earned 35 reactions combined.
Mirin, a Frankfort Avenue restaurant specializing in “Asian-style street food,” also got a big reaction online. “Dear JCPS teachers,” they posted on Facebook after teachers shut down the school system by calling in sick en masse. “We’re sorry to hear so many of you are sick. For lunch today, you get 50% off your meal.” Owner Griffin Paulin, whose stepmother is a JCPS teacher, says they were packed for lunch, and that many teachers were so touched by the promotion that they refused to accept the discount.
Mr. Lee’s, a speakeasy in Germantown, even created a featured cocktail last Friday. The “An apple a day will get you an A, but where the hell’s my pension?!” consists of apple jack, rye, apple juice, lime, ginger and green apple bitters. They served it to teachers at a discounted price.
Other businesses that offered discounts on Friday: Four Pegs, Somewhere Restaurant and Bar, the Great Flood Brewing Company, Gerstle’s, the Old Louisville Brewery... Look, the list gets pretty long. Suffice it to say that Louisville businesses really seem to like teachers.
And some are still offering discounts to embattled educators. Teachers can get 50 percent off draft beer at the Holy Grale on Bardstown Road for the remainder of the week, as well as lowered rates at places like the Nachbar, the Come Back Inn and Foxhollow Farm, among others. The Louisville Bats are even letting public and private school teachers with valid teacher IDs into their opening weekend for free. So if your pension’s getting flushed, at least you can catch a ball game.
