Can you pass the bus test? These red flags mean you’ve probably got bad banners | Tom Bowden

Maybe I was raised wrong, but I was taught to show respect and gratitude to everyone, writes Tom Bowden.

So, I was in the shop Bras ‘n’ Things the other day.

I know how this makes me look, but let me clarify. Bras? I honestly have no real opinion on bras either way. It’s the things I was there for, you see.

Bras? Bras I can take or leave. But things? Well, I honestly can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like them, or at the very least have a use for them.

Anyway, after discovering they didn’t have the things I was looking for – mainly mouse traps and irrigation fittings – I headed out past a young lady making a purchase.

The woman at the register handed her a small bag – contents unknown (although I suspect it wasn’t sprinkler heads) and she took it and walked out without even acknowledging her.

Which got me thinking. What the hell happened to manners?

Seriously. When did they die out?

TELL US MORE IN THE COMMENTS

The other day I go to get on the bus. The bloke before me gets on without acknowledging the bus driver. We arrive at the interchange and he alights without so much as looking up from his phone.

Me? I’ve said good morning to the driver as I got on and said thanks and wished him a good day as I got off.

Similarly, I was in the Myer Centre on Tuesday and saw a young girl about to get in an elevator, but before she did she held it open for an older couple – one of whom was in a wheelchair.

As they thanked her for her kindness a group of mums pushed past her to fill the lift, forcing this young girl to wait for the next one.

And just this week I was out to lunch with a friend. Yeah, I have them …

I watched as the wait staff fussed over an older couple on another table, constantly refilling their glasses.

Not once did the diners acknowledge them as their drinks were topped up.

Now, I know it’s a transaction here. You’re a paying customer and technically it’s their job to serve you, but seriously you can’t even manage a simple: “Thanks.”?

A happy bus driver just like one that’s been recently thanked by Tom. Picture: iStock

They say commonsense isn’t that common anymore. I’d argue common courtesy isn’t either. It’s gotten so bad there are coffee shops around the world that have two payment tiers – one rate for those who say please when ordering, and another for those who simply bark their demand.

Boomers, retirees, however the hell you want to self-identify: Don’t complain about how the younger generation doesn’t use manners if you’re not prepared to model them yourselves.

Young people: A please and thank you goes a long way. Don’t forget it.

It takes no time to be pleasant and costs absolutely nothing. It’s a sign of respect. And I think that’s what gripes me about it.

Maybe I was raised wrong, but I was taught to show respect and gratitude to everyone.

And that can be done through a gesture as small and fiscally null as a ‘please’, a ‘thank you’, a smile, a wave, or a nod.

It can make a real difference in someone’s day, and it hasn’t cost you a damn thing.

But don’t you think for one second I’m advocating you clap when the plane lands – that just makes you look like a boob, which the Oxford dictionary describes as “a foolish or stupid person”.

I’ve got a real thing for bookends and I realise I led with that Bras ‘n’ Things story …