Our child will stand up in a bus for someone older. Our child will always say thank you, no matter what. Our child knows how to use cutlery. Beautifully. Thank the Lord for that – because if she hadn't remembered, I'd have to quietly berate her.
I celebrate our child and our contribution to her life as a successful, beautiful girl and her manners are part of that equation.
Because I have manners, I would never disrespect my child's father. That is quite simply tedious and far too easy.
At the time you are taught manners, one doesn't really know why, but the magic word sets you up for a much easier life. I remember the wonderful feeling of being told I had lovely manners when I was small and I watched my little one in a supermarket trolley puff out her wee chest when the operator said "what lovely manners you have".
A close co-worker said to me one day "teaching manners to your children is a load of s***. It's more about the parent than the child." I fundamentally disagreed with him, and simply considered it his flatulence of the mind when he said it.
In speaking to a friend who owns a restaurant recently, he said the climate of the guests has changed since Covid. Now they regularly have customers who feel it is their right to critique the food, their performance, their service or in fact anything. Clearly, they had too much time during lockdown watching cooking programmes and now feel justified, in fact certified. One hundred per cent wrong.
I had a girlfriend once that was a finger-clicker to wait staff. It horrified me. She had money, so felt it was her right to be, quite frankly, an abhorrent guest. She is no longer my friend. Every time we would go out, she would do it and I died a little inside.
I have been a waitress. It was at The Oriental Restaurant back in the 80s. My daughter is now a waitress and if someone clicked their fingers at her, I would drive down, click my fingers at them and then make them do the dishes.
If someone comes to fix my toilet I don't stand there and tell them how to do their job. I trust their experience, training and expertise. I also don't treat them like crap (that's the toilet's job).
My local Four Square staff have a similar story. They are subjected to massive abuse on a daily basis due to other people's frustrations.
Manners cost you nothing, but can change one person's sh***y day into something better. If you're going to be an a***hole – go somewhere else. Don't arrive at a place you chose to go to and behave badly. That's on you, not the staff or owners. You made the choice to go there. They are offering you a service. Respect that at least.
There is much in the media at the moment about how little we have to survive on, how tough life is, how much everything costs and I am living that; however, using those seven letters costs you nothing, makes you richer.
