Courtesy.

While i was waiting to get in the lift to the car park of my gym, two kids just immediately rushed in before me. Their mom stepped in and said "you should be courteous to the lady standing here". That was OK with me. I did not really mind those young kids rushing in before i did. But this thing was important to be taught to them as i was the elder one and waiting for the lift before they had arrived. These things are so basic that needs to be taught right from the very beginning.

One of the things i have learned living in the U.K is 'courtesy'. How small things such as 'Thank you', 'please' and 'sorry' could mean so much. How such simple things such as giving people way or keeping the door open for the next person to come in could count so much and how a little 'thank you' could have such a big meaning.

This thing is so much embedded in the system here that no one says 'yes' if you ask a simple question such as 'would you like a coffee'? they always say 'yes please' and a 'thank you' is a must after that. The importance of such little things is hard to realize. Once i bumped into someone by mistake. The mistake was mine but the other person immediately said 'sorry' to me. I wondered why. It is because it doesn't matter whose fault it is, if you take the initiative and say sorry it wouldn't harm anyone.

The same way is in the courtesy of a smile. You don't really have to know the person to smile at them. When i started working in Marks and Spencer soon after i came here, my Manager would always ask me every time he crossed me 'you alright' with a blink and a smile. I wondered why does he keep doing that? But it was just the courtesy of him being so nice and polite that he wanted to make sure that i was fine and comfortable in the new enviornment that i was working in.

Such are the things here and if i could just take a little of these and teach it to our people. Life would be so different. Not again will i see, traffic jams, or listen to the horns. Not again will i see people being depressed about their bosses being rude to them and not praising their work, not again will i see people just rushing and thinking about just themselves and wanting to be the first one to reach their destination the quickest, rather paving ways for others. And this is how i would like our people to be.... more courteous.