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April 1, 2010

Isn't that just good manners?


Some days I think the world is a very strange place.

Ok, ok. Most days, I think the world is a very strange place.

And the world thinks I'm a very strange girl.

Oddly, I’m ok with that.

But I digress.

Yesterday, I went to my local Safeway to pick up a few items. As you know, I'm a total Trader Joe's girl. Unfortunately, ol' Joe doesn't always have everything I need, so I have to supplement with Safeway (and I feel like I’m cheating).

Anyhow, I took my few purchases to the register, and as I stepped up to take my turn, the checkout guy said, "Hi! How are you doing?"

To which I replied, "I'm fine, thank you. How are you doing today?"

And he responded, "I'm good. Wow, thank you SO much for asking!"

Which brought me up short.

An exuberant "thank you for asking"?

Would imply that most people don't even bother to ask?

Which really seems rather rude to me.

I mean, I'm no Miss Manners, but my parents did actually teach me my "please and thank you's".

I'm not saying we have to go back to old school overly mannered and behaved, but some simple courtesy is a nice thing. A good thing. A missing thing...what's that old saying? Gone the way of the Dodo bird?

Sure, I may burp in unfortunate locations and situations, sometimes. And I might, though rarely, yell inappropriate things out the car window.

But damn it! I know how to say please and thank you, and I'm polite enough to inquire as to how a nice hardworking grocery store clerk's day might be going.

I'm just like that.

Cuz I was raised that way.

Why again aren't people raised that way anymore?


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Creative Commons License
All content of Oh Fair New Mexico by Karen Fayeth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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