Five Little Words

I have a nagging, low-level headache that's been going on now for the past 2-1/2 days.
Not to mention I just had to sit here and listen to one of my co-workers suck on his teeth while I'm eating lunch, because he's too lazy to go and brush the damn things.

So I have a rant coming on.
Something I've been thinking about for quite some time and I figured since I'm in a foul mood anyway, why not today?
I figured I'd better warn all of you in case you just don't want to bother reading any further.
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Please
Thank you
Excuse me

Five words that I don't hear very much anymore but would make a big difference in our day-to-today dealings with people.

I can't tell you how many times I've held the door open for somebody (at a store, movie theater, etc.) and had them blow right by me without even a simple "thank you". As if it's my job to open the door for them.
On almost every occasion I say, loudly, "You're very welcome!" and wait to see if they even look back. Most times they don't, but the few that do I look right at them.

Or people that push past you without ever saying "excuse me". We obviously see each other, but rather then be polite, they just push you out of their way.
I really can't understand the ones that come from behind you and push you out of the way.
I'm more than happy to let someone go by if I knew they were there in the first place. But coming up behind me and pushing me out of the way? That's just a dick move all-around.

Sometimes at ECCC, I like to hand out stuff to people waiting in line to keep them occupied until the doors opened.
I usually take things from the "free table" that are in limited supply and pass them around to a few random attendees.
One year, I grabbed some T-shirts along with a few other things and went outside.
As soon as I got out there, a guy in line saw me holding the T-shirts (mind you, he didn't know what size they were or what was even on them) and said "Give me".
I said, "What?"
"Give me. Gimme the shirt, man", was his reply.
I looked right at him and said, "Yeah, you know what? You get nothing now" and went further down the line to hand out stuff.
If he'd said "Oooh T-shirts! Give me one, please", I'd have had no problem.
But instead, he acted like he deserved it.

Which is the point I'm (finally) getting at.
I'm seeing more and more where people think they are owed something just for breathing air on this planet and I'm really sick of it.

Mostly it's people younger than me, but I'm also noticing it more with people who are my parent's age.

What the hell happened? What happened to saying "please" after you ask for something?
Or "excuse me" when you want by somebody or to enter a conversation?

This lack of manners is not just rude, but seems acceptable by society, and I'm tired of it.
It takes no effort to be nice and in return you get "nice" back.
But instead, they'd rather be a dick and think the world revolves around them and you're just in the way.

And people that are already acting this way are raising their kids up without manners so it's only getting worse. If nobody's teaching them to say "please, thank you, and excuse me" who's going to?

I think we'd all be in a lot better place emotionally if we'd stop and take the time to be nice and use manners with one another.
I'm not talking about just with friends, but with everyone. Your barista. The shoe salesman. The clerk at the DMV.

A little niceness goes a long way, especially if you want something.