Some rambling on basic good manners from a grumpy old woman - today: elevators

Do you remember your parents telling you to wash you hands before going to have dinner or to say thank you when someone gave you a present? Or, even more important, look people in the eye, when you say hello to them? Or closing the door, when you leave the room, or, even more important, the house? 

Basic stuff, I know. I wonder whether it is my methusalemic age, but I really start to notice if people do not know that it is terribly rude to walk over you when you are passing by, or that the fact that you would like to finish a sentence once begun should be a part of basic human rights.

Working in an international environment does help to become a philosopher in such observations. My best loved motto in live has been already for a while: "Watch and learn".

For instance, the elevator situation. First you wait for the elevator - there are people here who are courteous and let you, as you have white hair and are female ( pretty sure that his nowadays is NOT, repeat NOT a defining factor any longer), go first. Others simply move over you, even if there is no hurry. Others again stay in front of the open elevator and check their mails on their mobiles, keeping the rest of the dutifully assembled colleagues waiting and if someone makes a little noise, do not apologise nor react.

The next opportunity to watch and learn is the travelling in an elevator. Some people simply carry on their conversations in a presumably foreign language ( you never ever know who else is speaking your language!!!) and with a certain level of sonority - well, good for them. Should the elevator come to a halt and a new passenger enter the premises, one would expect a short nod or some sort of acknowledgement that one is entering a previously occupied room. But this is actually very rare to happen. Smiles are precious and are kept back for apparently more rewarding situations. Awkward silence ensues - not that I am the first to welcome small talk in elevators, but at least not a hostile atmosphere.

Most people still say good bye when they get out, but do not say hello, when they get in. Last thing to observe is the idiosyncrasy of how getting out of the little mobile box - letting the ladies get out first is becoming rare, and saying good bye might be the best of all of it. Basically it is one for me and me for me as well. If I am let out first and a man keeps the door open for me, I feel positively elated and very much from the last century, not fit to survive in the  modern world. I do smile and say thank you all the same. perhaps this would make the person happy and it costs me nothing..

Better and healthier to take the stairs anyway. Nobody there, no awkward social situations and you can have quiet conscience of not ruining the environment.