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Being Polite

I've been thinking about this one for a week or so as there is a general feeling that people just aren't as polite as they used to be.  Then on Thursday, a survey result suggested that 2 out of 3 people agree that people just aren't as polite as they used to be.  Radio Newcastle wanted the North East's opinion and I weighed in that people not saying thank you when you held a door open for them was one of the thing's that winds me up the most.

I do tend to agree though, that in general, people do seem to be less polite and certainly less tolerant of others.  I'm not sure if its one of the side effects of the recession, in that people have just turned very possessive and generally less patient.  Luckily, I'm not one of these experts in these things, but for me, being polite costs you nowt and its nice to be nice.

We've always brought the kids up to be polite and it's always nice to hear people comment on them always being polite and always speaking to people - they even say thanks to bus drivers when they get off the bus - well you wouldn't expect anything else would you !

I think the bit that's proved the lack of politeness thing to me most recently follows the little incident I had a couple of weeks ago where a woman reversed her car into the van I was driving.  In a way, it was quite a comical incident as she stopped just past a gate into a farm and didn't indicate or anything.  I slowed down to overtake her and indicated to pull past her.  Just as I started to move into the other lane, she started to reverse and I stopped.  She kept reversing and I thought she's going to stop, she's going to stop - BANG - ah, she isn't going to stop.  When I got out to exchange details, she thought she'd just hit a kerb and hadn't noticed the geet big white van I was driving !  Anyway, I was quite calm as it was pointless being anything else as nobody was injured and it wasn't my van, and certainly not my fault as I was stationary at the time.  The bit that was interesting is that she was pleased I wasn't shouting at her and calling her for being a crap woman driver.  Her general attitude suggested that this wasn't the first time that she'd clattered somebody as she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing.  Anyway, I wanted to cover my arse as it was a hire van and she had dented the wheeltrim and I didn't want any hassle, plus she was concerned that hire companies can get narky about bumps.  So, we exchanged details and then both drove off.

So, when I went to put the van back into the hire company they had a look at the damage and weren't bothered and were happy for me not to give this ladies details to them.  As I'm a canny lad, I thought that I'd give her a ring and let her know that she was in the clear - needless to say there was no answer from the mobile she gave me, but I left a message.  Have I heard anything since - No.  A simple text to say thanks would have been nice.  If the shoe was on the other foot, I would want to know and would be delighted if it wasn't going to cost me my excess.  But, I've heard nothing and it kind of proves a point that people just can't be bothered to be polite.  Mind you, from where the incident took place, it doesn't surprise me as the folk from that neck of the woods aren't very nice from my experience - too much in breeding !

I'll still keep on being polite though and encouraging the kids to do the same as i think it's important and I hope that I'm not alone.

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