What If…Manners Mattered?

Angelina and I stopped by a shop to pick up her new prescription 👓eyeglasses after school the other day. The sign at the 🚪door listed the necessary COVID protocols. It was apparent that there was just one employee, and she was working with another couple. She found a way to juggle all of the duties as she ushered us into the store following a temperature check and sanitizing.✔ We sat down to wait until she could help us- chatting about the day and checking our 📱phones. She returned to us while waiting for a fax for the other couple (yes- a fax!😂).

While she was helping us, another gentleman stopped at the 🚪door with a quick question. She answered and continued with us- not skipping a beat. For someone running a busy store by herself, she was doing an awesome job.🙌 Yet- she 😍thanked us over and over! You read that right- she 😍thanked us! We didn’t do anything that deserved the level of gratitude she was giving us in my mind. We just came to pick up a pair of 👓glasses. However, she told us that she appreciated that we were kind to her. ✨That we politely waited for our turn. ✨That we didn’t yell at her. ✨That we followed procedures. ✨That we were respectful of other customers.✨

You guys- we didn’t do anything special! We simply used good manners as we interacted with another human! 💖That was it. Here’s the part that made me 😢sad: just being polite and kind stood out. The fact that we didn’t yell at her stood out. 😦WOW!

A friend is the manager of a retail store. Recently, he told me about shoppers who 😡yell at him and 😠threaten him and 😈cuss when he reminds them of the city and store mask mandate. I’m not debating the 😷mask issue- so move on from that. I’m just saying that there are a million different ways to handle this one. Shop online. Follow the rules. Ask if the store provides one. You get it.

What does that lack of courtesy say about our 🌎world? I don’t know about you, but I believe in using good manners. ✨I think that politeness and kindness should be the basics of any interaction.✨ It’s not that difficult. If you’re yelling at the clerk in a store, check yourself. ❓Was it really something in the moment that set you off? ❓Or did that poor employee get the brunt of another issue that you’re struggling to handle?

I’m not suggesting that you hold back with your emotions. It’s important to feel all the feelings and to deal with them in healthy ways.💯 If you genuinely have emotions to express, go ahead! If someone needs to hear some ugly truths, go for it. Just make sure your rants are headed in the right direction.❕ We’ve all said and done things that didn’t make us proud. 😕It happens. I’ve found that the times I am cranky or say things I wish I could take back are the same times I’m 😴tired or hungry or upset about something else. I’m not talking about those occasional moments of regret. I’m talking about bad manners becoming the norm.

We all learned the Golden 🌟Rule as little children. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. When did we decide that it was okay to forget that? Why do we look the other way? How did we even get here?

Some might think this is a political post. It’s not. ❌I don’t care who you trust- politically, ethically, spiritually. You get to choose your behavior.💥 If I act like a jerk or say something that I shouldn’t say, that’s on me. It has nothing to do with my musical choices or the people I follow on Instagram or Twitter. My attitude is my choice.💥My actions show my character.💥

What if…manners mattered? 💝Let’s remember to say please and thank you. Greet people with hello. Be on time. Learn names. Take turns. Listen. Apologize when necessary. Skip the gossip. Hold the door. Let that driver pull in front. Share some ✨light with the 🌎world- for goodness sake. Things are too dark. It’s time, and it starts right here. Join me, please?💞