Paging Ms. Manners....

Say what you want, but common courtesy and manners are dying in this country. I don't mean knowing which fork to use when. No, I mean holding doors for each other, saying please and thank you, and realizing that other people might be present. Let's go through my day and look for examples:
Let's start when I headed down to St. Thomas this morning. As I got to the corner of my street, a person was waiting for all the cars to go by in order to cross. I decided to stop and let them. Did I get a wave? No. Did I get a thank you? No. This person just walked (slowly, I might add) across the street, stopping in the middle to check out what time it is. Fine, I let that one go.
When I arrived at St. Thomas, I got to the front door of Murphy at the same time as two other people. I decided to hold the door open for them. The first person went through without breaking stride or story, the second person quickly followed. Neither one said, "Thanks." Ok, fine, Person #1 was in the middle of a story. I understand that. However, I don't understand the next part. I followed behind these two people, when we got to the next door, I was a few steps behind, because I had held the other door open, so I figured they would do the same for me. I was very wrong. They walked through and let go of the door so it would shut right in front of me. This door is one of those Automatic Doors, so when it shuts, it has to complete its movement before it can be opened again. Because they did not hold the door, I had to wait until it shut and then open it again. That's just rude.
When I completed my tasks at St. Thomas, I decided I would head out for lunch. In Robbinsdale, there is a fantastic little Greek restaurant. It's called The Athens Cafe. I highly recommend it. Back to the point, however. Today at lunch they were very full. I placed my order to go and sat down at the lunch bar to wait. Persusing over my copy of the City Pages, I figured it would be a short wait. I was wrong. Because of the lunch crowd, my order took longer, so I got to experience some wonderful aspects of life.
First of all, the guy sitting next to me kept reading over my shoulder. Now, next to the door, directly behind me, only ten feet away, was a stack of City Pages. However, Mr. Looky-Loo decided that he needed to look at mine. When I turned to keep him from reading, he actually said to me, "Hey! I was reading that." Are you kidding me? I don't know this guy. So I told him, "there are more over there," and pointed toward the stack. "It's too far. Let me share with you." I just stared at him slack-jawed. I gave him my copy and went and got another. Then I moved to a table in the back. That was my next mistake. You see in front of me was a rather large and rambunctious family. I don't care that the parents wouldn't stop the childern from running around the place. That's their business, but here are the things they did that made them rude and made me question the next generation's manners:
1. Their little girl (I heard Pam) who was easily ten or eleven, turned to her mother and said, "Get me more Coke!" When the mother said, "What do you say, Pam?" The little girl said, "Get me more Coke now, or I'll scream." I was really hoping this was a joke, but the dad said to his little girl, "shut up!" The mom still went and got her the drink, and when she returned, there was no "thank you," no "you're welcome," and no, "please."
2. Dad and Mom get into a rather LOUD discussion. I don't like to eavesdrop on conversations. I understand that it's rude. However, when two people are screaming at each other across a table so that they can heard two stores down (at the Walgreens), it's not really eavesdropping, is it? I understand that they weren't sure who was going to take the kids to camp on Friday, but for the love of Mike, don't air your business in public.
3. I want to preface that I have no problem with breast feeding. You want to do it, that's your perogative (thanks Bobby Brown. Enjoy rehab...again). However, please, when you're in public, cover up. This one gal sitting with Mom and Dad had a baby and was feeding, but she did not have a blanket or anything covering the kid. Then she walked around the restaurant to get napkins. How can you not look when she's almost leaning over you? Don't give me, "it's rude to stare," when you're in my face with a baby and breast. All it takes is a blanket. And don't wear a shirt that says, "Don't stare at my breasts!" If someone wants to read what it says, they'll have to look. Don't get so offended.
4. The final act was when I was leaving. Momma Bear was right behind me, so I opened the door and held it open for her. She stopped before walking through and just stared at me. I tipped my cap, and said, "maam." She just kept staring, and I just kept holding the door open. When she went through finally, she didn't say anything. She just looked at me. I told her to have a nice day, and she looked at me like I had cursed at her. I said it again. "Have a nice day, maam." She just kept looking at me.
Finally, there was the Post Office. Ok, I know that post offices always bring out the worst in people, but I was shocked to see young and old treat the postal clerks like crap. An old woman argued with the clerk about the cost of stamps. She refused to believe that there was tax. The worst, however, was what had to be a sixteen year old kid who argued with the clerk and finished the argument by telling her to (and I definitely quote), "suck his balls." That's ultra classy. No, seriously. It makes him look like a perfect gentlemen to tell a woman to suck him in front of a crowd. All because his card was rejected. Nice work, my friend.
I miss the classiness that people used to have. You could go to a movie and people wouldn't talk or answer their phones. Even insults used to be classy. Instead of just dropping the F-bomb, people would say things like, "He's a cruel man with a steady smile." (That's Ralph Nader on Reagan.) That's an insult that doesn't just rely on dirty words, and, even though it is an insult, it still rings with a certain class.
I don't know how to fix the problem. I wish I did. I just know that a large number of the students I work with are not very polite. They don't say excuse me, they cut people off, and they never say thank you. Let me make this clear: I am not saying ALL of them, just a large number of them, are this way. I hope that new parents will attempt to fix this problem by teaching their kids to say "please," and "thank you," as well as teach them about how to act in public. If not, then public life will get even more annoying. Now if you'll exucse me, I have work to do. Have a nice day. Can I get the door for you?