Manners Matter

Amelia Gonzales, staff writer

What will happen when the world stops saying thank you? Maybe for some it simply will not matter. Well, to me it does. I grew up knowing that manners are a necessity for living in this world. Even when I do not mean it, I say thank you. Maybe that is wrong, but hey I’m being nice while I’m wrong. I think that counts for something.

I decided to have my own observation day on manners. I started the day at work, where I am an assistant manager at a small retail store. The first couple of hours went quite well. Every single customer in the store between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. said “thank you” as I helped them with their purchases. Just after noon, I received my first customer who would not even make eye contact with me, let alone relate a “thank you” or “have a nice day.”

Midday hits and a group of school kids come pounding at the counter. From listening to their conversation, they are about to miss their bus back to school. They grab the bags and run out of the store without a word to “the girl behind the counter.”

From time to time, I got the occasional well-mannered customers. But, astonishingly, I received more and more ungrateful customers. Not only were the customers rude to me, but they were rude to other customers as well. One lady had dropped some change on the floor and another lady standing in line picked it up for her. The lady that dropped it never turned to say thank you or even acknowledged her kindness. 

I left work starving and decided to pick something up. I suppose the girl who helped me at the window was having a tough day of her own. She told me my total, snatched my money, shut the window, opened the window, gave me my food, shut the window and walked away. Sadly, I can say I expected it from this particular restaurant. I was more upset about not getting any ketchup for my fries.

After the day came to an end, I realized there are a lot of rude, ignorant people out there. Maybe, people are mad about a bad hair day or a bad lunch date.  It could be that they are mad about a rude customer at their job, or a bad drive-thru experience. I do not know. But would it not make more sense to fix the problem than to live out the rest of the day angry at the world?

I have found that even if sometimes you have to put on a “fake” smile, say please and thank you, then you just might find that smile is not so “fake” after all. If you find it still is, then please do the world a favor and go home, so at least those of us who have an ounce of kindness can have better days.