Whatever happened to basic politeness and manners? Have they simply become unpopular and unnecessary or are they simply not learned in the first place?
I was brought up to respect my elders, to say please and thank you and to ask permission to be excused from the dinner table. Basic manners. I also hold the door for a person following up behind me, allow people to speak without interruption and make eye contact when conversing. It's not hard and to my knowledge has never led to someone thinking less of me; Rather, it has demonstrated my quality, or so I would like to believe.
Today I was in a shop and during the transaction the attendant did not make eye contact once, not even when handing me my change and muttering, "have a nice day." It's not the first time this sort of thing has occurred. In fact I have a very low expectation on other people's manners (on people in general actually) but it kind of annoyed me today.
In the past I've held doors for people, allowed people to jump the line at the checkout if they only have an item or two, picked up something someone has dropped near me on their behalf and the like, mostly with a thank you but sometimes not. These days I see people let someone struggle with their shopping, step around them if they dropped something and let doors slam in people's faces...Do we live so deeply within our phones, text messages, Twitbooks and Instaface that we no longer need to treat each other with respect and courtesy? Maybe we are conditioned by the constant bombardment of reality TV shows where it seems the entire show is created simply to promote tension and drama between participants for the amusement of the watcher. Maybe that's where people learn their behaviour from these days.
Call me old-fashioned but I think it would be nice to see some courtesy return to our lives. Saying thank you takes no effort, nor does saying please, or holding the door for someone behind you. Try greeting people with a genuine smile, and asking after them taking the time to actually hear their response. Being courteous and polite opens doors, turns men into gentlemen and women into ladies. And as for kids? Well, they will learn from the influencers around them. Parents, teachers, television, etc. Set good examples and they will follow.
Anyway, that's it.
Bye.
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