Life's Funny That Way

December 2 - Courtesy

December 2: How Courteous Are We?

The answer to this, I believe, lies in the activity in which we are taking part at the time. 

Having heard some stories from the recent Black Friday shopping extravaganza, I would say that people are not courteous at all. 

Thinking of a child today running to open the door of my restaurant for a man in wheel chair (she did not know the man, but happened to be near the front of the restaurant as he wheeled up),  I would say we are very courteous.

Seeing a driver tailgating or cutting off another driver, and a variety of hand gestures that go with that whole scene… again, not that courteous.

I work in the service industry, and courtesy is a building block of all else.  Without courtesy, there is no element of service.  It’s the foundation.    Watching my servers go out of their way to please a guest, simply because they enjoy it… Courtesy is alive and well.

There are times that we, as a society, do not see others as people but as roadblocks to us getting what we want.  Other times, the times when we slow down and really take a look at life, we see others for what they are:  people with the same needs, wants, and range of feelings that we have.

Sadly, I think we could all be a little more courteous.  I see customers who are not courteous to my staff, as if they are some lower life form to be kicked around and badgered.  But, when I, as the manager, approach the table, they are nice as can be and I resolve their problem.  That makes no sense to me.  The person taking care of the table is just as qualified as I am to fix any problem that may arise, but a customer may not be as courteous to that person as they are to me. 

I think that there are many ways we isolate ourselves from others, and, when we do that, we tend to be less courteous.  We also tend to be less courteous when we are in a hurry.  Face it, life is much faster paced that it used to be.  I’m not saying that people are bad or that they do not want to be courteous.  I think the opposite.  It’s just that they often don’t take the time to really think about how their actions are affecting others around them – even people they may not know, or possibly ever even see again.


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