Desperately Seeking Manners!
Where have courtesy & politeness gone? Manners, appreciation, some patience, some consideration of others. Simple kindnesses. Please and thank you. Excuse me. You’re welcome. A smile. Are you ok?, Pardon me, may I help you, what can I do for you? I’ll wait, you go ahead. Holding the door for others, speaking up to a server or other worker that is rocking it & doing such a great job; the grocery store clerk that actually comes up to you personally & says I’ll help you over here; people with you who are present with you & not responding to each & every beep, vibrate & ding, to name just a few! Has anybody else wondered that lately as I have?
Reader discretion advised, for I will be listing out some of my pet peeves about lost, common courtesies…going Negative Nancy on you for a few moments..Seems we are bombarded every day with rudeness that assaults our sensibilities……red light runners, tailgaters, honkers, ragers; people dropping trash & not caring; people in the gym or pacing around the airport with headphones plopped on their heads the size of lawnmower tires yelling their conversations that we do not want to hear, that can be heard in the next city; people in the grocery store check out line waiting behind us but bum rushing the clerk that has been summoned & has just opened their checkout line to be first in line while the rest of us are stunned at the rudeness; those folks who park their cart in the middle so that you cannot get past them & then if you try to move their basket they will give you the stink eye for touching their cart; the people in the back of the aircraft who bum rush the rest of us patiently waiting to get off (I clearly understand there are people late for a connection & that is acceptable, but…..); people in the gym who have germed up & sweated all over handles & weights & do not sanitize the equipment they have just used with a quick wipe down; now I haven’t been to an actual movie theater for years, but when people used to wait til the middle of the movie to open their noisy candy wrappers in the dark when they clearly arrived & sat down with their stash at least 15 minutes prior to the movie starting, oh my!! How about looking up from your phone only long enough to remember yes, I’m there and pretend you’re listening to me for a second, fully wishing you could answer that notification (I get emergencies, but how often is the next ring or vibrate an actual emergency?); people who are parked next to us in tight spaces & do not hang on to their door & smack your car & then see you sitting there & try to pretend they didn’t just see you & didn’t whack your car.
Perhaps I sound petty & way too detailed about some of the annoyances. But I believe we can be the light in the darkness; continue to show kindness & courtesy & let our own manners & considerations be contagious. Pay it forward. Bring back some good old fashioned values that seem to be fading away, but can be reborn through us. It brings such joy to my heart & a smile to my face to be treated considerably & respectfully so I know the one can become the many!!
