Posted on 10/14/2005 8:09:40 PM PDT by echoBoomer
From road rage in the morning commute to high decibel cell-phone conversations that ruin dinner out, men and women behaving badly have become the hallmark of a hurry-up world. An increasing informality -- flip-flops at the White House, even -- combined with self-absorbed communication gadgets and a demand for instant gratification have strained common courtesies to the breaking point.
"All of these things lead to a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, a descendent of etiquette expert Emily Post and an instructor on business manners through the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vermont.
In some cases, the harried single parent has replaced the traditional nuclear family, and there's little time to teach the basics of polite living, let alone how to hold a knife and fork, according to Post.
A slippage in manners is obvious to many Americans. Nearly 70 percent questioned in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll said people are ruder than they were 20 or 30 years ago. The trend is noticed in large and small places alike, although more urban people -- 74 percent -- report bad manners, then do people in rural areas, 67 percent...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That's why instead of parking near the store, I now park near the cart corral. Frankly, the exercise to walk to the store won't hurt me either. I probably should be parking a couple shopping centers away! My pet peeve is the people who leave their kids' food wrappers, candy bars, and other assorted junk in the carts. I can't tell you how disgusting it is to start putting one of my kids into the cart and see squished up raisins or a crumpled juice box. I mean, nine times out of ten you pass a trash can on the way out anyway-- how hard is this?
We were at a car show and I was walking with my two and a half year old. He darted around another man (I'd let him walk a step or two ahead, there are no moving vehicles on the show field) and I said, "Say, excuse me!" The man he'd passed gave me a dirty look and said "o-KAY" in a really nasty voice. I couldn't figure it out. Five minutes later the light bulb went off and my son and I chased the man to the end of the row so I could tell him, "I wasn't talking to you-- I was correcting him!" (pointing to my son). It really made me laugh. I have my hands full trying to teach my kids manners without taking on spectators!
Oh hell, do us all a favor and give your kitty a feast.
she'll have to watch her cholesterol, but... ok. she says she'll "take one for the team"
unless there are flies indoors, sure.
Every NEXTEL phone needs to be smashed with a hammer! These are quite possibly the most annoying device ever invented.
One would never know this by the number of people who make no effort to silence them or their conversations.
Also, people who stand on escalators blocking the way so that the people who aren't too freaking lazy to walk up and down stairs can't get by them.
After I joined the navy, removing my "cover" indoors became habit. As soon as my foot passes through a doorway I instinctively remove my hat. Now I feel uncomfortable if I am wearing a hat indoors even if it is only a baseball cap at the mall. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Before the navy, I never gave it a second thought.
yanno, i used to say "excuse me, may I get past you" to such bovines (and to dirigibles hovering in doorways, et omnia generis alia)... but now I am more likely to say "Get the [expletive] out of my way, NOW."
their lack of manners has led to a reduction in my manners. it's a vicious cycle.
… there's little time to teach the basics of polite living, let alone how to hold a knife and fork, according to Post.
LOL !
I learned a lot from my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and the parents of friends and my parents friends who ALL taught us manners and wouldn't tolerate breaches of behavior or manners and never hesitated to correct us.
I also learned a lot from being a Boy Scout. It's a shame that the Scouts are being so maligned and attacked today. What do these people have against boys learning how to take care of themselves and being good citizens? It's bizarre.
You're right about that. I also recall a time when young teenage boys hung around outside the supermarket. They wanted to earn a little money in tips for carrying the customers' bags to their cars. Customers were restricted from taking shopping carts into the parking lot.
You've named MY pet peeve: trash in the cart. I HATE that. I've even found used Kleenexes! People are just filthy.
At this point in my life, maybe it's time to say "Let the next generation deal with what we left them". In other words, I don't care anymore. I'll look out for my own and the rest of the world can go to h__l if they choose.
Hey, I like that attitude! I will begin each day with that thought.
Who hasn't been "indoctrinated" to behave a certain way? When I was in my mid-teens, I walked to Mass one Sunday, sat down, and waiting for Mass to begin. I happened to touch my head for some reason and "Oh no!!!" I forgot to wear a hat!
ALL women wore hats or some covering on their heads when attending Mass.
I left immediately, walked all the way back home, and attended a later Mass...wearing the obligatory hat.
Years later I recall it as an unnecessary, uncomfortable experience, and a ridiculous result of brainwashing. It is rare that a woman wears a hat to attend Mass today, and does God really care? I don't think so.
Does he care if I wear britches to Church? Probably not since that's the way He made me. But I'd bet I'd have a pew to myself.
I've observed that women are quicker to say "Excuse me" than are men, even if they are passing by in the aisle of a store. There is no reason to apologize and I wish they wouldn't.
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