I don't know what it is about college that makes people forget about the simple manners they have learned growing up. It's like as soon as people enter college southern hospitality, common courtesy, and simple home training becomes factors of the unknown.
Day by day people seem to forget the once installed vocabulary of, excuse me, please, thank you, you're welcome, etc. It's not just the people my age either, it is also the professors. It's a simple saying that could change my perspective of you as a person. I don't care who you are or what title you have before your name, no one is too old to have manners.
If you hear me say "thank you" then please say "you're welcome". I would even be fine with a "no problem". If you see me holding the door for you, do not, I repeat do not just waltz your little self through without acknowledging me. The phrase is "thank you". Forget it. It's ok, next time I see you it will hit you right in the forehead to remind you to use your manners.
Oh, and this includes you too professors. If you see me standing in a place that you need to get to say "excuse me" and I will gladly move out your way and greet you with a pleasant smile. I don't care how small you think you are, YOU CAN NOT SQUEEZE BY ME.
A simple two words can get you so far. And yes, I am that person that if you somehow forget how to say excuse me, I will remind you loudly with a "The word is excuse me, dang!" accompanied by a terrifying death stare.
As I get older I try to understand exactly why people refrain from manners. I know being in college our minds are always thinking about the next assignment while our face is glued to our phone screen. Maybe as a whole population, we are too distracted to pay attention to our surroundings. Then again, I am never too busy to greet a kind gesture with a thank you.
The problem with people is that we fail to acknowledge others. We fail to live by the code of manners, and we fail to treat others the way we would like to be treated. Hopefully, by the time we enter adulthood and leave campus, my fellow peers will regain their lost set of manners. Manners should never be a short-lived set of vocabulary, instead, it should be a set of values that you bring with you to college and in the rest of the world.
So if you are reading this, and you walk around campus forgetting your manners, you will indeed get checked. Times of being rude is over. So use the manners your parents instilled in you and be kind to your fellow pirates.
