SOUNDING OFF ABOUT MANNERS: PET PEEVES II
NaBloWriMo Post 9
A DECIDED LACK OF MANNERS
I promised you the Pet Peeves II list today, and I shall deliver. I suspect most of these peeves are some of yours, too. If you think I left an important one out about minding one’s manners, please leave a comment and let me know what it is.
WHAT ARE MANNERS?
Having good manners includes putting yourself in another person’s shoes and applying the Golden Rule. (It also requires knowing what the Golden Rule is.) It involves taking a small amounts of time to consider what your actions might do to someone else. Aesop called it ‘looking before you leap’ in his fable “The Fox and the Goat”. Jesus said the same thing more eloquently, but it means the same thing.
PUTTING THE GOLDEN RULE INTO PRACTICE
“Good manners” merely presumes that we slow ourselves down before speaking or acting and treat others with respect. Sometimes I wonder, though, if we no longer understand the word “respect”. It does not mean “agree with”. Think about it. Jesus of Nazareth said it this way in Matthew 7:12, the King James Bible:
OFF THE SOAPBOX
I am stepping down from the soapbox now to present you with my list. Have a little fun with this. Ponder, observe, and please keep your sense of humor! We humans are so fallible, we do not even fathom how much, so we need to help each other do better. The first step toward that, however, is knowing the difference between good behavior and poor behavior.
So without further adieu, the Pet Peeves II list awaits.
THE PET PEEVES II LIST
1. People who leave their grocery carts in the middle of a parking space for someone else to return.
2. Drivers who treat parking lots like the Indianapolis Speedway.
3. Those who treat poor people or those out of work as if they have the plague. They don’t, so repeat after me: this could be YOU some day.
4. People who wear too much perfume or cologne during theater performances.
5. Men who refuse to open doors for women, older people, those on crutches, in wheelchairs, or for one another if the other man is laden with packages and cannot open the door himself. This goes double for being unwilling to perform this small courtesy for smaller, older, or weaker people than oneself.
6. Women who refuse to accept a man’s honest desire to assist her, open a door for her, or help her be seated.
NOTE: This is not abuse. This is courtesy. There’s an ENORMOUS difference.
7. Those who refuse to offer their seat to an older, disabled, or sick person on a bus, train, or in a crowded waiting room.
8. Kids who run into shopping centers or stores, no matter who is already walking through the same door.
NOTE: It is not okay to run down little old ladies attempting to get through a door.
9. Teenaged girls who roll their eyes, flip their hair, stomp up the stairs, or slam doors when they don’t get their way.
10. The idea that if I make less money than you do, you are somehow superior to me.
NOTE: if circumstances change, this could be you. Beware.
How about you? Any pet peeves to add?
My pet peeve is people who think a two year old is too young to teach to behave.
People who think they don’t have to pay for things they ruin. (I work at the library and see it all the time)
Danette: Boy, I’m with you on both of those! Regarding two year olds: one of the saddest things I ever saw was a young mom trying to “reason” with a two year old having a temper tantrum in the middle of a grocery store. You cannot “reason” with a two year old!
Regarding not paying for things ruined: I used to work at a church. People used to waltz in and take things out of cabinets and “borrow” them, then never return them.
Regarding books: Who cares about books anymore, right? I have to slow many of my students down and teach them the proper way to handle and treat a book, how to turn pages without tearing them, etc.
Great peeves to add to the list!
Thanks for reading,
Blessings,
Sarah Moser
Arlcetis like this make life so much simpler.
Thanks for your comment, Alyn. Life was much simpler when people were expected to be polite…at home and in public. I can actually speak from experience, I’m that old! 😉
Thanks for reading.
Blessings,
Sarah Moser
Family Education Services