Whatever happened to manners!—

Does anyone know??

What happened to people saying please and thank you....??

Last weekend my family and I went out to lunch, well while we were waiting to be seated, we were standing near the front door, so my 7year old son is doing what he usually does for people, opening the door for people to enter and exit.... At least a dozen people come and go while we're waiting before my son comes over and asks me why no one is saying thank you!! Well I told him that some people are just rude and to ignore them, well today we went to barnes and noble, and as we were leaving I held the door for people to enter and of course I don't get a thank you!! So I guess because my son had pointed it out last weekend it was still fresh in my mind and I raise my voice enough to be heard and say "your welcome"... They just look at me as if I've lost my mind, oh well....

This just really irritates me, because I spend so much time making sure my children are polite and show manners and common courtesy, but it's hard to make sure these stay with them when they don't receive it in return, my children know it's rude to not show these courtesies, and they don't understand why people are being rude to them for no reason!!

So does anyone know what happened manners?

I am pretty sure this is a US thing unfortunately. My husband and I have been considering moving out of the states, because of the US attitudes.. I really don't want my kids thinking this is the norm in their world..


I always make a point of looking someone in the eyes and saying thank you when a courtesy is extended to me, and I have done well in teaching my children the same.. Yes it is very confusing for them to not receive it back...

I have lived NE, SE, MidWest, SW, as well as NW in the US, and I agree People are a great deal friendlier in the southern and midwestern states.. I don't think any place on earth could compete with southern hospitality.. Which is probally why I'm finding NWesterners very unpolite.. I spent most of my time growning up in the south and have come to expect politeness as a given..

I also agree that no matter where you live you will find rude and ungratfull people..

"So the choice you have is that do you want your children to grow up rude but fair or do you want them to grow up with all the niceties only to use it to look down on others."

If these where my choices I'd move my kids to a desert Island and not allow them contact with the outside world!! I try to teach my children to be polite as well as accept people for who they are, that noone no matter their status in this world is better or worse than they are..

I've always expected alot of my children because I KNOW they're capable of anything.. Alot of what I've noticed within the US is that parents don't expect alot of their children, so alot of children do not reach their full potential.. I don't know if this is an issue in other countries but am willing to find out..

I believe the US in general shelters americans, which takes away the desire to become more..

yes ma'am 🙂

i was born in ny.......when i moved to florida i had to run laps every time i said yeah to a coach instead of yes sir. 🙂

cj7~~ LOL!! That sounds about right!! I had to use "sir" and Ma'am" to everyone while growing up... Even I think thats a bit much for my kids!! 😉

I always have told my children to say please and thank you and that will not stop no matter how rude and ungrateful people can be. If we stop teaching our children manners than they won't teach their children and so on and so forth. Our country (US) has become so anti-social because people are afraid to say anything to anyone because they may get a lawsuit against them for it if you say the wrong thing. I grew up on the East Coast which, I have experienced some very rude people there (but love the accent) and I have lived in the South and people are so polite and welcoming there and now I live in the NW and there is a mixture of both. I teach my children to respect their elders and be polite and hopefully they will pass it on too.

Oh....I have had a conversation with myself before and had said:

Open door for someone

*silence* and they just go in.

I say thank you....loudly

then, I say your welcome.....loudly

*they give nastey look*

I just smile and say "Have a nice day"

Oh.....little story....so sweet!!

My two daughters, my granddaugther and I pull up to a restaraunt to eat. We get out of the car and start walking up to the door. This very good looking young man (maybe 18 or 20) opens the door for us and holds it open til we are all in. We all said "Thank You" we figured he was leaving. Well, he said no problem "it's my job" So, we though maybe he worked there. Well, we get seated right away and this young man is walking behind us and sits down at the booth next to us with an elderly women (possible gramma). It was so incredible sweet and unselfish thought and act that just made our day. He actually saw us pull in the parking lot, got up from his table to hold the door open for us and then sat back down to finish eating.....it was way too sweet.....my eyes are tearing just remembering it because you don't come across someone like that very often and especially at his age. He left with his (gramma) about ten minutes later. My daughter started to cry and was completely overwhelmed of what he did and tells me that she just let her future husband walk out the door. I wanted to find him so bad but, don't even have a clue of where to look. It is absolutely great when you come across someone like that and that is still young. It makes you feel like our childrens future is going to be a good one.

gttommy~~ LOL!! I'll have to consider that, I was trying to control my temper though!! LOL 😉


Sweethearts~~Very sweet story!! I'd never considered it being b/c of lawsuit fear, but that does make sence... Where in the nw are you now? I'm in Oregon, and you find alot of polite and rude people... The closer you get to the coast the more polite they are, but it's hard to not be happy with that kind of scenery!! 😉

i guess it depends where u are. in thge south they expect the yes sir/yes maam thing. u say yes maam to some women up north and they dont like that either. so...u cant win.

sweethearts~~ Awesome, beautiful country up there!!!

I am from the northwestern US and I was raised with more manners than almost everyone I've ever met in my life. And so I really don't think it has a single thing to do with what part of the US you're from - it has to do with how your parents raised you, and bad parenting is a problem throughout the world, not just select parts of the US. I work with the general public and have had to deal with all kinds of people, and (I'm sorry to say this, but it's true) two of the most obnoxious, rude, irritating people I've ever had the displeasure of interacting with turned out to be from somewhere in the NORTHEASTERN US. 🙂 Do I judge all northeasterners because of that? No, of course not. That would make me as rude and ignorant as what they were.

I am highly disturbed also at the lack of manners in this world, although I've never not been thanked for holding the door for someone. That would really piss me off, and I would say something a lot more spicy than "you're welcome". Or I'd follow up with "you're welcome, fucker." lol. (But that would be rude...)

Anyway yes, it's a huge problem. I sometimes feel very alone in my attention to proper manners, particularly with people my age, because they almost despise it. It's weird, and really screwed up.

"you're welcome, fucker."

LOL!! I think I piss enough people off to go that route!! But I would love to see the look on someones face when faced with that reaction!! 😉

lol, me too. I kind of can't wait to throw it out there. (Maybe I'll get into my first ever fight!) 😛