Mind Your Manners

Today’s world has witnessed the smallest amount of manners go by the wayside. There are numerous people that are in such a hurry it seems a modicum of common courtesy is lacking. Maybe I am just plain old fashioned, or somehow, the lessons my father taught me have stuck throughout the years.

When it comes to women, the acts of always holding a door, chair or even their coat, as they put it on, have lost their place in society. The glares from people in a public setting, as I hold my wife’s coat for her, are of disbelief. Holding doors for another person always has been the normal gesture for me, as well as a lot of my friends.

These common courtesies should carry over to everything you do – from telephone etiquette to driving an automobile.

Rather than flipping someone off just because they fail to practice your same values, courtesy and patience behind the wheel of a car will get you farther down the road.

Telephone pleasantries have become things of the past with personal people skills being lacked by most of the machines we all try to converse with daily. A simple “Hello” or “May I please speak with Mister or Mrs. Smith?” is all too uncommon. Instead, you are assailed with “yeahs,” “yos,” “ahs” and other assorted guttural sounds.

If a person you know acts in a way you find manner less, go ahead and remind them they will be treated the same way they treat other people. It’s the simple Golden Rule.