A2Z Meme: Pull-eeze Contain Your Potty Mouth

Hmmm, this is getting harder. Today we POST on the letter “P.” Had I been thinking, I would have saved yesterday’s post on PEOPLE PLEASING. Instead, I’ll talk about manners.

I use the word PULL-EEZE because I’m being dramatic. So many things are advancing as we progress in time. Technology and medicine are two. However, as I grow older, I see something decline. Manners.

For instance:

Who says PLEASE anymore? When I’m at the mall or Wal*Mart, I hear kids TELL their parents what they are buying them. It’s gimme, not please.

Thank you? I barely hear that, either.

Have a nice day. My cashier said that to me the other day, and it is habit for me to say, you too. She was genuinely taken aback. Doesn’t anyone talk to her during the day? Don’t shoppers realize beyond being a cashier, she’s a person?

Don’t touch. I don’t know the full story so I won’t try to piece it together but each year we have a PASSION PLAY that features live animals, including three camels. Apparently during one of the performances, someone in the audience touched a camel. I don’t know if this was an adult or child, but still, it should be common sense. Our pastor had to announce before each show to please not touch the animals. When I was a kid, the thought would have never crossed my mind. I also saw a church display where someone had to write on their own book, PLEASE don’t take this, it is not yours to take.

Think of others. I’m not going to lie, now that I’m out of the baby stage, I join the ranks of people that don’t go out to dinner to hear your baby scream. I don’t get out often, and meals are expensive. I want to enjoy the experience. I understand babies aren’t going to sit still, and I also know they will cry. But for the family of 12 or so who were at Steak and Shake in Youngstown last week, shame on you. That toddler threw a fit that broke ear drums and affected every single family in the restaurant. The family decided to ignore his cries, or try to bribe him. Then they turned on each other, still ignoring the child. Finally a grandmother took action, which then in turn made the dad get up and take him outside. I did my share of laps outside a restaurant until my kid was ready to act in a way I knew they were capable of. The kid I saw last week was not just loud, he was faking. When grandma asked him a question, he turned the drama off in a flash to ask, “What?” A second later, he turned the tears and screams back on. My kids knew I didn’t play. I knew by taking them outside I was getting cold food. That’s the deal. You do get hot meals back, but you have to pay your dues–and think of others.

Can I Help You? I remember years ago there was a store at the mall that was the place to go before Wal*Mart. Thing was, once that store came in, they didn’t step up their customer service. In fact, they stopped caring. I needed help and no one would ask. Finally I stopped a gum snapping clerk who was apathetic at best. I asked them if they realized this place could be closed if everyone acted like them—because everyone will go to Wal*Mart. Guess what happened.

POTTY mouth. My dad worked in an environment where in their trucks or shop, profanity was used, and I’m sure freely. That’s just it, I don’t know because the men had enough decency to shield me from it. These days there is no filter. Not only do I hear profanity nearly everywhere I go, it comes from every age group and it is the big words I don’t even remember hearing until I was late teens. It’s not attractive. If anything, it shows me how uncreative you truly are. If you had something intelligent to say, you wouldn’t resort to potty talk. Stop it, already.

I’m not perfect, and neither are my kids. But the basics I was brought up with–I want to PASS them on.

How about you?

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