Will B.

I write a lot about manners and common courtesy, at least some may say. These are important to me and I believe they should be important to others if you are a part of a civilized society. I have evolved some of these to adjust for the changing of the times.

I always followed the rule of never leaving the house without a watch, handkerchief and pocket knife. I have previously delved into the useful applications of each of these but recently I have found that although wearing a watch still feels nice, it is not as necessary as it used to be, with the exception of going camping. I have found wearing a watch on a daily basis is no longer necessary, or in some cases, practical. My phone has everything I need in regard to time, calendars and location. A watch while camping is still practical because it can be used to find your way out of the woods if you get lost and phone service may not be available in some remote areas.

My biggest pet peeve is being on time; the watch used to be the most helpful way to be on time. The phones nowadays should give no one a good excuse to be late anymore in my opinion. The modern cell phone has calendars built right into them with alarms if necessary, so I don’t understand the people who are always late and keeping everyone waiting. To me it’s one of the rudest things in the manners and common courtesy department. When we are late, we are saying other people’s time is not as important as your own time among other implications.

My second pet peeve is people cutting people off in traffic. I have noticed that it doesn’t really save that much time either. The worst being getting cut off then the driver drives slow in front of you. I am thinking if you’re in that big a hurry to cut me off why are you driving slowly! Ha-ha! To me it goes back to a lack of common courtesy for those around you. I am no angel but I always strive to be well mannered and have common courtesy for those around me. What are some of your pet peeves? Am I the only one that is bothered by a lack of manners these days? Probably not. This is Will B saying, manners are contagious and so is smiling. Use both generously.