What Happened to Manners?

I work in Downtown Toronto and it's just bustling with people all of the time! There is this amazing underground pathway system ~ it's literally a whole world underground and there are many many people above ground that are totally unaware that it even exists! In fact, if you are on the street level there is nothing to indicate that the underground 'world' is even there http://www.toronto.ca/path/pdf/path_brochure.pdf Anyways, I digress...

In the morning I will take The Path from the Train Station to my office, in the afternoon I will do the reverse. There are doors that you need to go through, some open and some not. When I was growing up I was taught that if you are opening a door, or walking through a door that you need to hold open, it is polite to hold it open for long enough so that the person behind you can hold out their arm to keep the door open as they walk through and so on. I was also taught that you are to thank the person in front of you for holding the door open for you. I have to say that I am disappointed every time someone does not thank me for holding the door open for them. I am almost able to excuse that though. What I can not excuse are the people who will scoot through the door, as it is closing, without doing anything to stop it from closing on you, the person behind them! I find that so unbelievably rude! It takes so much more force to open a door that is closing than it does to simply hold the door in the open position.

Another thing that really irks me is when people are walking along and they stop dead in their tracks, almost causing a pile-up, or they make a sudden turn and cut you off without saying anything, 'excuse me' would work! People don't seem to realize that walking in a crowded area is like driving a car ~ you can't make any sudden turns without first checking to see if there is anyone around you that you are going to trip up, cut off, etc. and if you do commit any of those offenses please, please, please have the common courtesy to say excuse me! or I'm sorry! Ugh...

It's incredible how hard we work to teach children manners, then it seems as though people reach a certain age those manners go right out the door! Why is that? Is it no longer necessary to be polite and courteous once you reach a certain age or status? If that's what people think that's ridiculous!

Always always remember your manners. People will remember you for how you behave towards others more than they will remember what you did for a living, what kind of car you drove, how you dressed, etc. Choose carefully how you want to be remembered in this life.