Saturday, May 1, 2010

Manners, a moment

Polite? * YAWN * Manners quite bore me...

When you are young, one of the first things you are taught (drilled into you more like) are manners; what they are and how to use them. ‘Please’, ‘thank you’, ‘it’s nice to see you’. Pfff.

Well guess what?

I don’t want to say please anymore; my dear Woolworths teller, unfortunately I’ve been waiting in this queue (that Woolies so pride themselves on for fastest teller movement...in the world...splutter...cough...rash creeping up my neck) for almost thirty minutes and all I want to buy are these freaking prawn chips.

I don’t want to say thank you anymore; my dear Telkom assistant, representative of the network I pay a small fortune to every month that allows me access to an internet connection that is less than efficient, you have provided me with little more than an irritation to my already busy day.

PS. This information as derived from countless complaints from family, friends, previous work associates, people in general.

And guess what my dear (person from high school? Previous place of employment? Dentist who left me with an enormous re-occurring abscess in a permanent tooth, resulting in my now having to go for facial surgery so as to correctly FIX THEIR MESS?) I hate that I have just bumped into you.

Yet, when I reach that teller, I will say please. When I am done having my far from effective conversation with the on-call assistant, I will say thank you. And when I see that person, the wind blowing in their hair, apple-crunching Colgate smiles and outreached arms, I will smile in return and embrace them and I will say that it is nice to see them.

And that is because more so than being irritated, I am polite, courteous to acknowledge your service. More so than being frustrated, I am well mannered, grateful of your assistance. More so than having to endure niceties, I enjoy being apart of your pleasantries, interaction, human conversation. It is actually nice to see you.

More so than manners, it is human nature.

3 comments:

  1. Also, you are a nice person! So true though, many other people have lost their manners or simply couldn't care less which is very sad. I like the way that you structured this!

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  2. That's SO true! I know EXACTLY what you mean :-) Great blog - I really love reading about the things I can identify with and you nailed it here Kerry!

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  3. I love it! Truely love it! I love the style you wrote it - it appeals so much to my sense of humour! You remind me of a woman I came across, who, when asked if there was no one else on duty in a very busy store, remarked, "Eh.....no.", and continued to buff her french-manicured nails.

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