England used to be known as a country that had great etiquette and was full of gentleman but that seems to have all gone. It appears that their is only a handful of people that are polite or have manners. It is not just men or boys that should have good manners it is woman and girls as well. I have had a couple of issues recently when I do something as simple as hold a door open for someone and don’t get so much as a smile let alone a thanks or thank you or walking down the highstreet if I give way and let someone past and they just give you a look as if to say you know your place. I don’t have to hold a door open for anyone or give way to anyone whilstwalking down the street but I do because it is the polite thing to do.

I was told by a colleague that he once held a door open for a woman and got an earful about being sexist. Now if that was me I may well have been a little rude and unpolite and told that woman to do one. To call me a sexist for holding the door open for her would be assuming that I only hold doors open for woman and making thatopinon is sexist itself.

One thing I will never understand is getting angry at someone that is trying to help you. Working on the phone in IT support there have been times when something goes wrong and a angry client will call and some even shout down the phone. In what world do they think for a second that is going to make me want to help them. I can deviantly say that every single time that has happened I have not tried my hardest to resolve the issue. On the other hand if someone calls up and ask me what is going on and ask me to have a look and see what is going on I will try my hardest to get the problem sorted for them as soon as possible.

Another thing that often plays on my mind is were does equal opportunity fall into feminism and how does this affect manners. An example of this is a packed train I sit in the last chair, the next stop a woman gets on the train. Normally at this point I would offer my chair but in this time and aged can is that seen as a sexist gesture and not good manners. In another example if we both got on the train at the same time but I sat down before I her do I then think that’s hard luck you had the same chance as me to sit here?

One thing my mum always used to say is Manners don’t cost anything.