We need more ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
There seems to be an extinction of manners afflicting our fine valley.
Store staffers, workers at many other businesses — plus average folks — have simply deleted ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and other courtesies from their vocabulary when serving customers, patients and clients.
Basic, polite words have been replaced with “Have a good one”, “There you go”, “Have a nice day” — or worse, silence — when being handed one’s receipt and purchases, as if we visited their establishment as a favour.
Lame phrases do not replace sincere words such as ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘excuse me’, and ‘may I…?’
Excuses for our eroded politeness may include: a lack of manners by parents and teachers; poor supervision by employers; social skills sadly replaced by faceless social media; or perhaps some simply, and wrongly, see manners as politically incorrect.
Such ignorance sullies manners used by more considerate local folks.
During the surreal scourge of COVID-19, we all need to be polite, kind and gentle — then carry those civilized habits into our post-pandemic world.
Thanks for listening.
Peter W. Rusland
North Cowichan