Manners Classes for Humans?

Hmm, this is interesting because David and I find exactly the opposite to be true.  Down here in Flooor-da, it's the over 45 crowd who are crude, rude, and generally nasty as heck.  Hold a door open for them and they'll barge past you knocking you off your feet as they race thru the door NEVER saying 'thanks' or giving a glance.  They'll come strolling out of the grocery store and directly in front of a car as if "attitude" will keep them from being hit.

It's 10 times worse with the over 40's than the younger folks (and I"m in that rude age bracket).  And it seems the older folks are the more curmudgeonly they become and the less they employ basic decency ... not even to mention 'manners'.

No one is over-endowed with niceness anymore, but I see far more manners in the under 40's than the overs. 

I'm not 'disagreeing' with you -- but I suspect there are other things at work here geographically (and the great number of retirees down here has to play a part).

 But generally I'm so with you it's not funny.  Had I treated other folks the way *I* am treated I wouldn't have been able to sit down when I was a kid (and trust me -- my mother DID spank and spanked hard -- I do mean exactly that).

And yet, I despair -- she's the worst offender of all (which is well within her personality) -- but I told my husband just this weekend that if I'd treated people the way I get treated NO ONE would have stood for it 40 years ago.  There is a general decrease in not just 'manners' but any kind treatment of one individual for another.

It seems we're all so busy posturing for 'attitude' -- I'm not going to use my turn signals because someone might not let me cut them off and get in front of them because *I* am in a hurry --- I'm not going to hold a door open for that person, because I'm in a rush and it will cost me time or I won't look big and self-important if I stop for THAT person, I want them to stop for ME 'cos attitude is everything.

 I'm 22, and I think that kids today are rude. Maybe it was just that I was raised differently,  but I find even my own sister, who is 16, does things that just shock me. I think this was mostly learned from my parents, because it's what they do. How the heck my sister didn't learn the same things, I have no idea.

griffinej5

 I'm 22, and I think that kids today are rude. Maybe it was just that I was raised differently,  but I find even my own sister, who is 16, does things that just shock me.

YES. I'm almost-21 and the younger crowd I've seen is SHOCKINGLY rude, along with the over-40's like Callie said. I didn't know people could be so rude until I lived the 'big city' after growing up in a little beach town. In New Smyrna you can tell who was born and raised here vs. the out-of-town too-much-money crowd.

I think mostly we're polite here because if you aren't someone *will* see it who knows your parents and they'll be sure to let them know how rude you were, LOL.

It's a mix here.  I get all ages that have manners and don't.  But I do find that the young are not being raised with the same manners that I know I was.  Please, thank you, I would like, May I have... etc.  Can't tell you how it annoys me to listen to the person in front of me at a fast food restaurant say something like, "Gimme a number 2" or whatever.  What happend to "I'd like..." or "May I have..."?  Or friends that at restaurants don't look at the server when ordering.  They stare at the menu, rattle off what they want, then don't even say thank you as the server walks away.  Nice matters.  Sheesh... 

 Here, its a mix.  Older people (who you might expect to be dignified and polite) tend to think its their DUE - I am older than you so OF COURSE you will hold that door for me.  There is no thanks, no gratitude.  maybe being polite to their elders was drummed into them when they were young, but maybe the elders weren't that grateful to them, and so now we're getting the treatment from them that they had from their elders?

Younger people are generally more polite than you would expect.  Covered in tattoos and piercings, or with trousers round their knees and a skateboard under one arm, and you expect to get "the attitude" off them, and they step back with a smile and a polite word.  It's nice!

I'm 23 and I have manners, but I see a ton of people of all ages who don't.  And I notice that some people are shocked when I treat them politely.  One strange thing I've noticed is that some people aren't receptive when you are polite to them.  For example, DH and I went out for our anniversery on Sunday.  I always say please and thank you to the server for bringing new drinks or anything else they bring.  I don't think I was able to say thank you to this women at any point.  She would just put the food down and was already walking away before I could get the words out, so I was talking to her back everytime.  I guess it's becuase someone saying thank you was not expected, but I was still surprised.

tashakota

It's a mix here.  I get all ages that have manners and don't.  But I do find that the young are not being raised with the same manners that I know I was.  Please, thank you, I would like, May I have... etc.  Can't tell you how it annoys me to listen to the person in front of me at a fast food restaurant say something like, "Gimme a number 2" or whatever.  What happend to "I'd like..." or "May I have..."?  Or friends that at restaurants don't look at the server when ordering.  They stare at the menu, rattle off what they want, then don't even say thank you as the server walks away.  Nice matters.  Sheesh... 

Everyone always laughs at me because at a fast food place I always start my order by "Can I have...  or I'd like..."  I've noticed with a few of my friends they do order by going "I want.. or Gimme a.."

My 2 year old drives me nuts. She'll come up to me or JJ hand us her sippy cup and say "Give me some more juice." And we correct her all the time but it does no good. We even ask her stuff the way we would like her to ask us for stuff but she still says "gimme or I want." But she will say please, thank you, and your welcome without having to think about it.  

I'm 23.  I hold doors for people and always say thanks if a door is held for me.  I don't say hi to every person I pass, but if we make eye contact I say hi or at least smile.  I don't remember my parents ever really teaching me these things.  I appreciate people holding doors for me and being polite to me b/c I'm often carrying very heavy supplies for my job and I get a lot of really rude phone calls during the day.  I try to return the favors.

I do not allow my dogs to just take food or make demands of me, so there's no way I would allow my children to speak to me like "gimme..."  If a dog can sit and wait patiently, not run people over, not act dominant and pushy about what it wants...then so can a human child.  I don't like baby talk either.  My mom talked to us like people, I talked to the kids I babysit like people.  Four year olds talking in whiney baby voices I simply ignore.  It's like training dogs - the good I reward with attention or what the kid wants, the bad I ignore.
 

kle1986

Everyone always laughs at me because at a fast food place I always start my order by "Can I have...  or I'd like..." 

I said, "can I have..." at a restuarant once and the server looked at me and said, "of course you can."  Now they were just being funny, but the only reason it was humorous is b/c people just don't ask that way normally.