Manners....is it a matter of shocking people out of chivalry or something more?
Have you ever walked around somewhere; maybe the mall, your office, the halls of a school, or even a sidewalk and tried to greet or smile at someone, but just have them stare back at you in reply? Or have any of you LADIES experienced opening doors for the guys? Or have you MEN experienced girls burping louder and longer than the best of you? Do any of you say "please" and "thank you" when dealing with waiters, bellhops, fast food employees, or your own friends? Do people bump into you without saying "sorry" or "excuse me"?
I'm just curious about this whole manners thing because I was taught to be as cordial as possible when out in public, no matter what the situation. Well, not verbally, it was "the belt" that taught me, and Fear never let me forget it! Anyway, I'm bringing this up since many of my friends don't seem to have any proper manners anymore.
Was I born in the wrong era or something? Because the last time I checked, manners was taken into account on a person's character, and you could get a rough sketch of someone by the way they talked to strangers and their other friends.
It's just that, lately, I've been feeling as if I'm isolated in this concern for lack of manners, whether at the table or not. It's as if I'm being a bit primal in my protests against people ignoring or dismissing chances at being polite.
What's wrong with having manners and being polite? From personal experience, it seems to me that the more people are polite to each other, the more good things happen! I mean, if you're nice to your waiter, (trying REALLY hard not to generalize all waiters here) it's most likely that your waiter will come around more often to check on you, see if you need anything, or maybe even give you some food for free or at a discount!!! And since when was THAT a bad thing?
Look, don't go picking on people who are doing their best to be polite. Yes, there will be times when you just throw your hands up and give manners a good kick out the window, but don't forget that society used to pride themselves on chivalry and good manners.
And let's not forget that no matter what race, culture, suburb or alley you come from, we all need to treat each other with some form of respect. It's the only way we can keep from fighting all the time and dealing more harm than good to each other. It also shows that kids need to do the same.
Anyway, enough ranting. My mother made me cancel my kickback for today so I'm really mad...UGH....life can be such a prune sometimes. Happy Labor Day, everyone!
I'm just curious about this whole manners thing because I was taught to be as cordial as possible when out in public, no matter what the situation. Well, not verbally, it was "the belt" that taught me, and Fear never let me forget it! Anyway, I'm bringing this up since many of my friends don't seem to have any proper manners anymore.
Was I born in the wrong era or something? Because the last time I checked, manners was taken into account on a person's character, and you could get a rough sketch of someone by the way they talked to strangers and their other friends.
It's just that, lately, I've been feeling as if I'm isolated in this concern for lack of manners, whether at the table or not. It's as if I'm being a bit primal in my protests against people ignoring or dismissing chances at being polite.
What's wrong with having manners and being polite? From personal experience, it seems to me that the more people are polite to each other, the more good things happen! I mean, if you're nice to your waiter, (trying REALLY hard not to generalize all waiters here) it's most likely that your waiter will come around more often to check on you, see if you need anything, or maybe even give you some food for free or at a discount!!! And since when was THAT a bad thing?
Look, don't go picking on people who are doing their best to be polite. Yes, there will be times when you just throw your hands up and give manners a good kick out the window, but don't forget that society used to pride themselves on chivalry and good manners.
And let's not forget that no matter what race, culture, suburb or alley you come from, we all need to treat each other with some form of respect. It's the only way we can keep from fighting all the time and dealing more harm than good to each other. It also shows that kids need to do the same.
Anyway, enough ranting. My mother made me cancel my kickback for today so I'm really mad...UGH....life can be such a prune sometimes. Happy Labor Day, everyone!