Originally Posted by
Mathew
We have a family friend who lives down in Bristol and he works part-time (inbetween uni) at Sainsbury's. Their staff are told to be extremely polite and to make conversation with absolutely everyone. It could just be that the elderly individual you serve at the cash till has contact with nobody else throughout the week. Make their day and just ask them how they are.
This can't be said for some places though. The woman who works in my local bus station is a complete and utter inconsiderate little moron. She's quite old and has no respect for any of the customers. I walked in a couple of days ago and waited her for beckon me forward. Of course, her head didn't move when I walked in the door. Gosh no, I had to wait a while for her to finish reading a paragraph of the newspaper before she even acknowledged me. I didn't even get a good morning like I greeted her with, it was a simple "yes?"
Naturally, there are times when people don't say thank you, and I'm sure I'm not alone when I give the sarcastic "your welcome" in response to their complete lack of manners.
I think Britain in general is extremely rude and it actually really upsets me. Whenever we go to America, both in the tourist areas and beyond, everyone seems to have a whole lot of decency and politeness. Perhaps it's due to the accent, although I would argue it's something on a much wider scale. I think it's down to the differences in how we're raised. American schoolchildren are, more often than not, raised in a religious household which encourages above said morals. They're also taught the Pledge of Allegiance and they're raised in an extremely patriotic society: I really do believe that these factors contribute towards good, stable families and therefore churn out more polite, considerate and accepting generations.
Good on you for promoting such good deeds, Jasey.