Respect and Manners

I'm in quite a good place at the moment. There hasn't been a lot that has annoyed the hell out me, hence the lack of ranting blogs lately. Ive decided to chill out and let others destroy their own lives whilst I stand and smile at them knowing I will never sink to their level. I'm happier for it as well. It was an extremely tough 4 weeks, I wont say it wasn't but its their loss not mine. I seem to have blocked and deleted more people on Facebook than Ive added recently as well.

 There is one thing though that Ive noticed more and more recently. The complete lack of manners and respect that people have for each other these days. Whether its on Facebook, football forums, television shows or  life in general. When did we become such an aggressive nation? When did we forget the basic premise of  good manners and accepting that our opinions are not always those that others agree with?

Its getting worse and worse and only we can change it. This week alone I have seen 4 pregnant women on the tube having too stand up because more able bodied people, male and female, pretend they cant see them and carry on reading their papers/books. It is just basic good manners surely?. How about when we are walking down the street and someone bumps into us, do they apologise to stop to see if we are okay? Not many do I bet.

How about when your standing in a que and someone just stands right in front of you knowing you were there first? Do we ignore it or say something? It happened to me today and I said to the bloke " Sorry mate I was next" he looked me straight in the eye and said "Didn't see you fella". How the hell did he miss me? I'm 6ft 4in for gods sake and built like an out house. It ain't like I'm a little fella is it. It really annoyed me to be fair.

Then there was the shift station manager who decided I was a fair game for his arrogant attitude. I was coming out of the toilets (we cant have one in store due to it not being bomb proof, nope me neither) when he stood in front of me looked me up and down and said "Who are you?" I said "I work for Orange" he said "Wheres your badge?" I said "In my shop why?" he then proceed to tell me he didn't believe me and he would come and see my manager. He comes to the shop and says "Right drop the attitude, where is the manager" to which I replied "Your looking at him mate" His face was a picture. I then let him have it both barrels and told him I would be reporting him to his supervisor for the way he thought he could talk to me. There was absolutely no need for it at all. The lack of manners annoyed me more than anything he had said. I also told him if I had spoken to one of my staff in the way he had me I would be disciplined for it and rightly so. Its getting beyond a joke now. I run my stores with a friendly atmosphere not like a dictatorship. I have to work with these guys 5 days a week, its better if we all try and get on. Don't get me wrong we do have arguments, some of them quite heated, but at the end of the day we respect each other enough to stand back and agree too disagree. It works and everyone is far happier for it.

Then there is the way that people cant have a debate about anything on the forum I use or Facebook at the moment without it turning personal or offensive, Whats that about? Have we lost the art of conversation? Or are we so caught up in a Me,Me,Me society that no-one else matters?. Ive had some cracking late night debates down the years over a few beers. I may not have agreed with them and they may not have agreed with me but we have respected each other enough to shake hands at the end of it and accept each others position.

We do seem to have got a far more aggressive nation and that disappoints me hugely. The lack of manners and respect we show each other in life makes us unhappy deep down whatever people say. So take a second to think before you write that sentence, a few moments too look at what you have written, a few seconds to look at the people around you, a few moments to judge a situation before you act. Its not that hard really is it? Its all about Respect and Manners.