The death of manners

It constantly surprises me how little people say please and thank you today. At the bookshop I work at, I’m constantly serving children accompanied by parents who like to throw their books at me, followed by their money, with no response when I offer a smile and a “hello”. Obviously this isn’t the fault of the child, it’s a lot to do with upbringing and the fact that their parents stood next to them don’t correct their behaviour and that’s where the root of all problems begin. Never mind the kids, fully-grown adults don’t even offer a grunt when I offer my hellos, would you like a bag, or goodbyes.

I don’t have a problem with society. Honestly, as much as I complain about things on here, I don’t think our country is all that bad as most of our issues are superficial. But it is increasingly annoying when I spend most of my Sunday afternoons following children around the children’s book section picking up board books and hungry caterpillars while their parents browse the travel section upstairs.

Like I said, my issue isn’t just kids. Adults have a lot to answer for in the manners department too. Just a few months ago, Christian Bale was recorded on tape swearing repeatedly at the director of photography on set of his new film Terminator Salvation for getting in the way of an “emotional” scene he was filming.

Since when was it ok to shout at someone for a good ten minutes using every expletive imaginable in the first place? I heard the audio, and it was nasty. This was a grown man treating another grown man with no respect whatsoever. As with most celebrities, people immediately came to Bale’s defence. “He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed,” said the assistant director of Terminator.

It appears that most of Celebritydom has forgotten what it’s like to be just a normal human being. If it’s not Kanye rudely interrupting Justice and Simian’s acceptance speech, it’s Christian Bale going berserk at someone on set. Then of course there is the now saintly Jade Goody whose racism in the past seems to have been conveniently forgotten along with her bullying Shilpa Shetty inside the Big Brother house.

People need to stop looking towards role models such as celebrities and take responsibility for their own actions. It’s no longer enough to covet the things the rich and famous have, now people are trying to act like them. Perhaps we need to remember just to be ourselves sometimes, and mind our p’s and q’s.