In Appreciation of Manners/Friendliness

I realize I may be aging myself with this next question but what happened to manners? What happened to common courtesy? What happened to good old-fashioned friendliness? I was raised in a casual household but I was also raised with a heavy emphasis on being polite and kind. At 27 (almost 28, not too many shopping days left people), I find myself appalled at how many of my peers ad my elders seem to have gone without these very important lessons.

I mean really, is it THAT MUCH of an inconvenience to wait an extra 2.5 seconds to hold the door for a young lady with her arms full of groceries? Is it that hard to say "You're Welcome" when someone thanks you? Let me pull a me-in-grade-school and answer before you get a chance to: NO. IT'S NOT.

That's the thing about manners: they require minimal effort and, bible, those of us that use them can attest that the benefits outweigh the extra 5 minutes of time one spends in a day to be polite. People respond more warmly to you; you're setting a good example to those around you (particularly children); sometimes  you even get stuff for free, especially when those good manners are directed at an under-appreciated person who is serving you food or beverages, hello on-the-house dirty martini! I find this especially is the case if you are kind and understanding about a delay or a simple human mistake and let me tell you, i prefer a free cocktail to being a biatch any day.

I think part of my sensitivity to this manners/friendliness drought is that I moved from the Midwest to the East Coast. Now I'm about to say some not-entirely-positive impressions of the East Coast but please just hear me out East Coasters. For all the WASP-y upbringing of the many clean cut preppies that inhabit the Eastern seaboard, overall East Coasters just aren't a friendly bunch. Of course I've met plenty of friendly people out here individually but on the whole, Easterners seem to be colder, more isolated and less likely to go out of their way for another person than people from the Midwest. I'm sorry guys, but it's true and if you spend any length of time in the Midwest, even a big city like Chicago, you'll notice the difference too.

My husband and I went back to the Midwest for a week this summer to spend tie at my parents' lakehouse in Michigan and to visit friends in Chicago. We were honestly thrown off by how friendly people were. We had gotten so used to the collectively chilly attitude of D.C., we were borderline suspicious by the kind and attentive Midwesterners with whom we interacted at restaurants and stores. They'd say something really sweet like, "You two enjoy this beautiful day now," and we'd reply "Ok, what's your angle, lady?" In our heads, but still. This revelation that I was wary of kindness honestly depressed me a little bit. I'm a proud Hoosier, cornfed, love-thy-neighbor kind of girl! Have my 2 years out East really hardened me that much? What the French, toast?!

So from here on out, I'm on a mission to kill 'em with kindness and to really appreciate the people who are also nice and polite, rather than questioning their motives. Let's bring manners and friendliness back like Minnetonkas, big hair and bodysuits, but more like Minnetonkas and big hair because I'm actually not a bodysuit fan and I doubt that trend is all that long-lasting. Smile. Hold the door. Say thank-you. Oh and one more thing, read this post on Apocalypstick about being early, because being early is also good manners. You all enjoy this beautiful day now!