Manners

Whatever happened to manners? You know – please, thank you, excuse me and so on? Some might think its an ailment of the younger generation but I beg to differ – I can tell you first hand that the ‘manner-less’ come in all shapes and sizes.

Here are some of my pet hates:

• The, I’ll talk on my mobile phone while you try to serve me and I won’t interrupt my very important conversation to give you my order, but instead I’ll silently mouth it to you like you know how to lip read and I might throw in some hand gestures as well, cause you also know sign language!
• The, I can’t bear the thought of touching you so I’ll throw my money across the counter at you instead (cultural beliefs are excluded)
• The, I don’t need to tell you what I want – I’ll just give you minimal information and you’ll figure out the rest cause you’re a mind reader
• The, I can’t greet you with a hello, please, thank you or how are you because these phrases are not part of my vocabulary and I don’t really care, even though I’ve been coming here for over 2 years and you have tried numerous times to strike up a conversation with me
• The, I can’t really hear what your saying to me because I’m wearing my ultra-cool MEGA headphones and I can’t stop my song mid way to listen to what you have to say
• The, I’m too important to wait in a queue so I’m going to push through everyone who has been waiting patiently and get to the front and place my order whilst you’re taking someone else’s!

Guys, manners are what make us socially acceptable and agreeable. Without them, we’re just losing the plot!

Maggie