Is it me?

I have found younger people to be more polite these days!!

I find people locally are polite and friendly. Maybe it's because I live in a small town (we still say we are going down to "the village) and we all look out for each other - even the ones we don't know!

Thanks for the heads-up re Bristol, our DD went to Uni there 23 years ago and never came home again so we visit often - and use the buses cos the parking is horrendous. I find folks there also polite and friendly. The only exception is that being a city lots of younger people are in a terrible rush to get from A to B.

My go to phrase if met with silence after holding a door open is “Pardon?” which is usually answered with “I didn’t say
anything”, to which I reply, “Oh, sorry, I thought you said thank you.”.

I now walk with a 3 wheeler as I can fall without something stable to hold on to and boy, does it make a difference. Cars stop promptly on the crossings and people move to one side to let me pass. If younger people walk towards me with their eyes glued to their phones I just stand still and they seem to get the message. It's amazing!

ddraig123 Your gentleman comment made me laugh. Very good.

I'm from Bristol where there's an actual phrase for thanking the driver, "Cheers Drive".

Now I live in a small market town where pretty much everyone I encounter is ultra polite and well mannered.

Indigo8

Franski

Funnily enough as someone who uses public transport i am constantly surprised to hear passengers thank the driver as they disembark. Its the driver who is usually the grumpy one. Honestly i find Brits a polite bunch most of ths time. I tend to presume the rude ones are stressed amd preocupied. What a Pollyanna I sound...

I always thank the driver when I get off the bus. It's common courtesy isn't it? Very un-Pollyannaish not to.

I use my local buses regularly and find the passengers are normally friendly and pleasant.. almost all of them thank the driver including the children..

Ziggy62 I know what you're saying!

The amount of times I'm walking along and there's someone with their head on their chest worshipping their mobile, not looking where they're going and zigzagging/stopping/starting over the pavement so I stand still and they almost collide with me and I get snapped at ''MOVE!'' No I won't!

Opening doors etc. etc. to be either ignored or abused.

Even in restaurants/cafe's with staff, I've said please and thank you and have been given really weird looks!

I don’t share this experience at all.
I find people generally polite and friendly, I would always hold a door open, and have always received a Thankyou, likewise. I always thank any gentleman kind enough to open a door for me.
At work, between two buildings, doors are constantly hold open for me by customers, and I am always polite and thankful.
I’m sure there are some rude people out there, but fortunately, I haven’t encountered them.

Franski

Funnily enough as someone who uses public transport i am constantly surprised to hear passengers thank the driver as they disembark. Its the driver who is usually the grumpy one. Honestly i find Brits a polite bunch most of ths time. I tend to presume the rude ones are stressed amd preocupied. What a Pollyanna I sound...

I always thank the driver when I get off the bus. It's common courtesy isn't it? Very un-Pollyannaish not to.

Trisha99

A small thing - my husband can’t stand people who don’t put the ‘next customer’ divider behind their shopping when at the till.
He plonks it down noisily and says things like ‘don’t worry yourself’.

But it’s his job to do that. The person in front isn’t the next customer. They’re the preceding customer, and they’ve probably already put a divider down to separate their shopping from the person in front of them.

A small thing - my husband can’t stand people who don’t put the ‘next customer’ divider behind their shopping when at the till.
He plonks it down noisily and says things like ‘don’t worry yourself’.

Growing0ldDisgracefully

I let the door go on people who expect me to be their unacknowledged door holder!

Crimey !

Funnily enough as someone who uses public transport i am constantly surprised to hear passengers thank the driver as they disembark. Its the driver who is usually the grumpy one. Honestly i find Brits a polite bunch most of ths time. I tend to presume the rude ones are stressed amd preocupied. What a Pollyanna I sound...

On the other hand, every time I’ve been to the gym this week I’ve either had the door held open for me (and thanked them) or held the door for the next person and been thanked. That’s by people of a range of ages and by men, women, and tonight, by a child.
So courtesy isn’t dead everywhere.

I was paying for my shopping at the supermarket till, getting my card out etc. The woman behind me had pushed herself forward practically under my arm. I felt rather harassed by her, so I had momentary fall backwards which threw her back rather😁

Taking my trolley to my car with a very large, unweildy, bag of dog biscuits, a smaller - but still heavy - bag of cat biscuits and various other shopping, I was surprised by a gentleman, who had just got out of his car, who came and offered to lift them into my car. At almost 90** and with a painful shoulder, I was thrilled with his kindness. **As everyone, incl my Dr, tells me I look nowhere near my age, I don't think that was the reason for his kindness!!

The bus was quite full the other day and I was sitting in a bay (it's OK this is not the start of a poem) that is for wheelchairs or prams. I saw a young women with a baby in a pram and a toddler about to get on so I moved further back.

Quick as a flash Mr and Mrs Smug moved down the bus and plonked themselves in the bay. The poor women with a pram had to squeeze in sideways and had to stand while carrying the toddler. I was sat too far at the back of the bus to say anything unfortunately. I have noticed that it is quite often the senior bus pass holders who are bad mannered. Many of them seem to think they have the right to occupy two seats with their bags when they haven't even paid for one seat. And don't get me started about shopping trolleys. I am well into my 70s and a lot of these people, though seniors, are quite a bit younger and fitter than I am including the afore mentioned Mr and Mrs Smug.

welbeck

Please don't flash headlights at night.
I know people mean to be polite but it is massively dazzling and causes actual eye pain sometimes.

Don’t get me started on headlights. I’ve had to stop driving at night. Some of them are blinding.

Please don't flash headlights at night.
I know people mean to be polite but it is massively dazzling and causes actual eye pain sometimes.

I agree with you! Same in supermarkets people just barge across you to reach for something, no excuse me nothing.....a lot worse since covid

Driving a lot in my part of suburban London, I find that more and more drivers are showing courtesy to each other. Even if the motivation is to protect their car's paintwork, it is welcome.

But don't get me started on pedestrians and Lycra louts on their bicycles!

People always seem kind, friendly and appreciative. Until they get behind the wheel.

Sadly I notice more at my work and it is usually older people (ie my age!) I think because I am wearing a uniform I must be invisible or they just expect me to hold the door open for them. I expect my two year grand daughter to say "thank you" if someone holds the door for her so I think an adult should do the same. I saw it in schools too where certain teachers would be quick to reprimand a pupil for forgetting to say thank you but would breeze though without bothering to thank the child who held the door open. It used to really annoy me.

LJP1

This is odd. I was only thinking this morning how many people return a smile, step aside to let me pass, or hold the door for me (and I'm not in any way disabled,) or make an amusing comment if we wait in a queue, to keep our spirits up.

Perhaps I'm just lucky living in the countryside where people aren't so pressured. I'm 80 so I can't claim to be attractive or interesting! I do smile a lot though as I'm glad to still be alive.

Yes, my experience is that most people are still courteous and considerate. There are some miserable so and sos about as well of course, but there always have been.

One thing that worries me slightly is that a good proportion of the younger generation don’t seem to want to acknowledge people they pass, as the older ones nearly always do up here in Yorkshire. It’d be a shame if the old friendliness died out.

I've been using an approach that I read about somewhere years ago - maybe here?
If I hold a door open for a lady and she comes up with a comment like - Don't you think a woman like me can open doors herself?
I reply - I'm not opening the door because you're a lady, but because I'm a gentleman! This becomes easier to do the older that you get (60+) - with the attitude - I Never Dreamed I'd Become A Grumpy Old Man, but here I am killing it!