As I begin the new year I have become more conscious of personal interactions. Not only mine but the exchanges that I witness around me.  Interacting with the public requires flexibility in attitude and demeanor.  Maybe I’m “from the old school” but manners and considerations still hold a high place in my every day life.  So, as I deal with other on a daily basis and extend appropriate courtesy to them, I expect that others will return the favor.

More often than not I am found wanting in this expectation.  Today’s society is faster, bolder, filled with technology and dominated by younger novices.  These newbies on the population scene appear to be unaware of the time-honored social manners with which I grew up – i.e. hold the door open for a lady, walk on the right side of a hallway, say “excuse me” if you walk into someone, don’t take it if it’s not yours, it’s not polite to cuss, etc.

I’m not sure when the change occurred but I sense that it was about five years ago.  I say this because that is when I first noticed it.  That when I remember this phrase being used: “it’s nothing personal, it’s just the way we do business.”  It was a reply I received when I wanted to exchange a defective item that I purchased and my request was refused.  The phrase has increasingly crept into our lexicon ever since.  Politeness disappears the more often this phrase is used.

I offer this idea as an observation.  Maybe you have a different reality.  It’s nothing personal, it’s just my point of view.

I’m not sure