I like to think that - when it comes to manners - my parents, neighbors and teachers did a stellar job. However, every now and then I encounter someone who either makes me doubt whether all the bases were covered in my own education or whether this person got any at all during his/her wonder years.
In the movie Blast from the past Eve (the female lead) and her best guy friend (whose name escapes me at the moment) comment on Adam's (the male lead) perfect table manners. What the guy friend tells Eve in that scene goes a little something to this effect: "Good manners are not meant to show everyone that you are better than them. Good manners show that you respect the next person." This was one of the lessons that I took from the movie and tried to apply in my daily life - sometimes successfully, other times not. In addition to the pleases, the thank you's and the excuse me's, I was also taught another lesson: Live and let live. You will not always like what the other person does or says but that doesn't mean that you have the right to correct whatever it is that you perceive as wrong.
Unfortunately I was never taught when or how to retaliate and in which situations it would be appropriate to retaliate. So I'm hoping that whoever comes across this post will be able to aid me in this venture and comment on any one of the following situations with what it is that they would do in this situation. Names have purposefully been left out to protect the identities of these culprits and to make the situation adaptable to anyone reading this post.
Question 1:
You offer to cook dinner for yourself and your housemate(s) or it is your turn to do so and you are cooking up a storm. Suddenly, one of your housemates walk into the kitchen and says: "You know, the kitchen always looks like a disaster zone when you are in here," and then proceeds to walk over to a counter, pick up one of the tea cloths between thumb and fore-finger, pull a face and say: "Eeeuwww!"
Question 2:
After dinner, you are cleaning the kitchen - alone. You prefer that the dishes - and especially the glasses - drip dry overnight so that the tea cloth does not leave a residue. In comes your roommate who says something along the lines of: "So, are these dishes going to pack themselves away?"
Question 3:
You are running late for work one morning and, after eating a sandwich, you simply rinse the plate under the tap and leave it in the drying rack. It is the only dish there as you already did the dishes earlier. Later your housemate requests: "Please don't ever leave the kitchen like that again."
Question 4:
It is election time and you and your travel companion are having a discussion about politics. After giving your opinion about a certain matter, your travel companion responds with: "Now see, that is the colored mentality and that is why the colored will always be stuck in their particular circumstance."
Question 5:
A senior colleague at work is renowned for bullying other employees. One day, being pro-active as is required of you in your job, you offer a solution/suggestion to a pressing work-related problem ... and are consequently rewarded with a "talk to the hand" gesture - in plain view of colleagues and clients alike!
Question 6:
You walk into your workplace early one morning, whistling a tune quietly to yourself. The tea lady and two or three of your colleagues are standing at the coffee counter, having their own conversation. Greeting them politely, you proceed over to pour yourself a glass of water when the tea lady comments loudly: "Haybo, you rude! You don't whistle inside!"
I am very curious to see what responses I will get from this post (whenever they will come).
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