mind your manners

Manners tend to get a bit of a bad rap, which is sad considering they're merely social lubrication. Good manners make other people feel happy- simple as that. Manners aren't all "how do you do" and knowing exactly how to use a fish knife (although I did spy a gorgeous set in an antique store the other day and was pleased I'd spotted a segment on telly once showing me how... oh, what, off the track?). No, manners are all about considering other people. Simple case in point. Last night, a meeting for an event at my daughter's school. Due to start at 7pm, but that's a hellish time so of course, people are dashing in and out, early and late. Not a problem. The room's set up with rows of chairs, tightly placed in a semi-circle to face the speaker out the front. Makes sense. Now, here's where the manners come in. I am sure that every single person in that room is lovely. A sweet, kind, thoughtful person... but, and here's my little niggle, a little thoughtfulness wouldn't have gone astray. 

All the early arrivals sat at the ends of the rows, leaving massive gaps of empty seats in the middle, meaning that those who arrived later, had to really squeeze past the knees and backs of heads at the start of the rows. It's just a little thing, but kind of reminds me of the whole "Please move to the back of the bus" phenomenon. It's not that these people were thoughtless, or particularly ill-mannered, but until they were squished past, they probably really just didn't think too much about it. Yes, of course, the latecomers shouldn't have been late, but many of them probably had a very good reason, and felt stressed and anxious about it, so making them squeeze through people, rather than falling gratefully into a chair close to the door, wouldn't have made them happy.

Today, I'm going to do something to make three people feel happy. I'm not sure who, or how I'm going to do it, but I'll do it. You?