Some things are always free.

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Written 21st May 2025

Some things are always free... manners

I've noticed a lot lately that manners seem to be disappearing. Maybe it's just me and how I was bought up. A 'please' and 'thank you' go a long way, and cost nothing.

Anger and depression, anxiousness and rudeness seem to be more common these days.

I get it, life IS hard for most of us. A repetitive cycle of work, bills, cleaning, kids, sleeping, with not a lot of spare time for the nice stuff we all want more of.

But surely we all would like to be respected, appreciated, thanked for our efforts. It makes us feel better, if only temporarily, a few more moments like that each day and life could seem a bit brighter, more positive, less monotonous.

I sell a lot of things online and I'd say less than half the people I converse with online say 'please' or 'thank you'. It really gets my goat. How long would it take to type a few extra characters?

A friend of mine is a bus driver. He says people these days rarely even look up from their phone when they embark or get off. It pisses him off. Who wants a pissed off bus driver? When you're on their bus? But how about saying 'morning ' or 'thanks'? Thank you for being a bus driver. Thank you for being on time. Thank you for stopping to pick me up. I realise it's their job and they're being paid to do it, but the bus driver is still a human being, why not try to be grateful and appreciative for them not calling in sick and the bus being cancelled?

Likewise shop staff, or call centre staff. They have pretty tedious jobs, why not be grateful for them doing those jobs and say please and thank you in your interactions? Even if the reason for your interaction is a stressful situation / complaint (which it generally is when you're having these conversations) you can still be civil and kind. No amount of rudeness or shouting is going to help. As an ex partner of mine used to say, 'Don't raise your voice, raise your argument!!'.

Wouldn't all our worlds be just a little bit nicer, kinder, brighter and warmer hearing and saying a few more friendly words?

And it costs absolutely nothing.

Peace and kindness always
LF
xx

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