Remembering your P’s and Q’s

“Hi. You have really great manners, and, well, I admire that you said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. After you tell me your name, I was wondering if I could take you on a date?”

Surprisingly, this is the exact statement someone said to me last semester after I had ordered a sandwich in one of the lines at the Rock Café on campus.

I remember thinking, wait… what? I could not fathom the fact I was being hit on because I was polite to someone else. Let alone to someone who made a sandwich for me.

Last time I checked, manners were common courtesy, right?

Although there are many of us who use their “please’s and thank you’s” often, I am still blown away at the number of people who nearly expect things from others.

You know the type.

It’s the girl in front of you who drops the door in your face every day or the guy you see in the Starbucks line who says, “I want a café mocha, tall.” Maybe it’s the person sitting next to you in class, or maybe, it’s you.

I guess what I have a problem understanding is when the lack of manners became socially acceptable.

As a whole, in my opinion, our generation is a disappointment. Where did we go wrong? Is it our fault for not listening to our parents when they taught us, or is it our parents’ fault for not teaching us?

Maybe it’s because we live in a society that says, “The customer is always right.” Maybe it’s because each of us was brought up differently, gaining different morals and values along the way. Maybe it’s because some of us have never thought about the concept of treating others kindly.

All opinions and ideas set aside, I think we can agree on one thing: It’s nice when someone treats you politely and makes a point to show they appreciate what you do.

So next time someone is behind you walking through a doorway, or making a plate of food for you at the dining hall, think about if the roles were reversed. How would you want to be treated?

Wait the extra few seconds and hold open the door. Throw in a couple “please’s” each time you ask for something else on your plate.

You may make someone’s day better by just showing you care.