Courtesy, no longer common.

How many times have you experienced decelerating your vehicle to allow a pedestrian to cross the street, and they cross without even a glance in your direction to acknowledge your act? Or the many times you utter a heartfelt “Good Morning” in a filled elevator or room, with not one response, in fact, sometimes the folks even peer at you with such a look of scant courtesy, you believe you are in the wrong for offering them a greeting!

I chose to write about the disappearing commonality of ‘common courtesy’ as it seems less and less common. It is true we live in an increasingly fast paced society with most of our heads buried in our devices, however, that should not take away from our basic human relations. It seems the more instant we become as a society, the less emphasis we place on the human aspect of society.

I recall reading a piece on the education system in Japan, where I noted a few very interesting bits including, the emphasis placed on teaching Manners and Courtesy from a very early age, before emphasis placed on Academics. I noted where they stated the children are placed into teams, and are tasked with cleaning their classrooms and shared spaces, where they also assist with cooking their own meals, and participate in shared lunches within the classrooms, all in a bid to foster responsibility, ownership, teamwork and good graces, amongst other desirable traits. Now, I cite this example, because it provides an interesting benchmark for one of the most technologically advanced Nations – yet they continue to underscore the importance of the most basic elements of human relations.

The saying Common Courtesy, seems not that common any more, and as such, building upon a weak foundation will never support a strong structure. So, here goes:

Be Responsive! This range goes from the basic stated greeting, to the Whatsapp message response. If someone sends you a message via any form of messenger service, and it is read, unless they expressly state no response necessary, it takes but one second to acknowledge or respond. Further, if your organization has established an automated response via email, please attempt to clear the backlog of messages that you may have received. I recall a colleague of mine attempting to contact an office for very important advice, and receiving an electronic automated message with no further explanation of steps to take to advance her query further.

All information is good information. Many times Service is confused with Servitude, as a direct result, you may encounter persons who do not understand that to be in service is divine. Whilst reviewing my facebook feed, I saw a very popular service based brand, being ‘dragged’ for their lack of human relations. I was aghast to see that instead of accepting and appreciating the feedback to be used to improve the future service, the brand representative sought to make excuses, and exacerbate the issue by stating that the person making the claim against them, only sought to bring their brand into disrepute. Note to brand owners – If a client presents a challenge to you, treat this as a gift. It gives you the opportunity to fix it and improve your delivery.

Remember the watchwords! Please & thank you. As basic and infantile as this may sound, you will be amazed at how little they are employed. Human relations and communications are uniquely intertwined, and sometimes we need to be reminded that the most basic acknowledgement may produce the most dramatic response. I read a quote on quotesgram that stated “Common courtesy is a lot like common sense, they are both no longer common.”