A recent survey has found that people in this country are getting more rude because of increasingly hectic lifestyles.
Well around here, in ‘bungalowland’, most of the miserable old sods lead anything but a ‘hectic lifestyle’, but are probably some of the rudest and inconsiderate buggers you could ever never wish to meet.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve held a door open for some old couple, only to be ignored as they brushed past me, or moved my trolley (cart) aside in the supermarket to let some old dear along the aisle, and never received a nod of acknowledgment. In fact you are more likely to receive a grunt or a moaning mumble than a smile and a “thank you”.
I know that the words .. “Please” and “Thank you” .. are fast disappearing from the vocabulary of the young, but it surprises me that so many of the older generation seem to have lost their ‘manners’. Blimey ! I came from a time when you raised your hat to a lady, stood up if one entered the room, and always gave up your seat to her on the bus. Now they have to put notices on buses requesting people to let the elderly and disabled have their seats, and there’s as much chance of that happening as some oblivious old geezer removing his baseball cap for a passing funeral.
I can’t remember the last time I heard someone say .. “Excuse me, please” .. or .. “I beg your pardon”. Now you are more likely to get a push in the back, or even an elbow in the ribs from some ‘Hell’s granny’ who thinks that you don’t need to queue once you have been given a free bus pass; and don’t expect any ‘pensionista’ to be polite in the post office on their very own ‘special day’ of the week.
‘Manners’ ? .. It’s about respect for others, which you would expect older people to understand, but a number seem to have joined the ‘me’ generation, and have sadly forgotten the words of William of Wykeham who said that …
… “Manners maketh man”.
bigjohn 
