Ray’s Daily
December 13, 2022
He who sows courtesy reaps friendship.
Saint Basil
Sorry about missing the Daily yesterday. I have been under the weather since last Sunday and just now am returning to normal.
Here we are in the Holday season when each of us has the opportunity to earn the proverbial good will that underscores the season. I thought the following is an appropriate reminder about how we can live in the spirit of the season.
‘There are some things money can’t buy . . . like manners, morals and integrity.’
I wish I knew who first said this because I’d like to thank them. Growing up we had house rules and expectations. If you open it, close it; if you use the last one, replace it; if you turn it on, turn if off; if you unlock it, lock it; if you break it, fix it; if you borrow it, return it; if you make a mess, clean it up and many others. Everyday rules for a family of four to live, survive and exist in supreme harmony, well most of the time. These manners stemmed from mutual respect for each other, common sense and the fear of retribution from Mom and Dad . . . more Mom than Dad.
Politenesses, like the magic words ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘excuse me’, seem to be on the verge of extinction like elephants, rhinos and lions – oh my! Why is this happening? Are people just rude? Have they forgotten lessons they were taught as a child, or even worst, were never taught?
Am I being overly critical or sensitive if I send a gift and expect the person to acknowledge that they received it? My grandmother once said, ‘expect nothing and you will never be disappointed’. I tried. It doesn’t work. Nothing drives me up a wall quicker than sending a gift and still wondering, weeks later, did they receive it? Whether you liked it or not, let me know that you got it and then re-gift it to someone else.
In this age of technology, it’s so easy to send a tweet, an email, or a text message. Heaven forbid we should expect a written note, phone call or a letter tied to the leg of a pigeon! When a sent gift goes unacknowledged and I complain about it, as I usually do, and my husband, the voice of reason will say, ‘That was your generation, this generation is different.’ Poppycock! Certain courtesies like saying ‘please’ when you ask for something and ‘thank you’ when you receive something should transcend generations. But have they? Maybe Jeff’s right . . . so off I went to conduct my own secret study.
First to the supermarket. When checking out the young cashier looked me straight in the eye, handed me my receipt and said ‘There you go’. Excuse me! When did ‘there you go’ replace ‘thank you’? I wanted to scream but held my tongue and took off for my next secret study – a restaurant. During lunch I asked the server for a bottle of ketchup and was answered with a ‘no prob’. Now maybe my age is showing but I wouldn’t think that getting a bottle of ketchup should be any sort of problem to start with. It’s not like I asked him to tell me what the stock market was going to do! Now that might pose a problem!
My third and final stop was a local department store. I stood in the check-out line behind an elderly woman who was paying for her purchase. Ten minutes later after a sundry of questions, she finally walked away. The two sales clerks turned to each other and started to mimic her. I stood ramrod straight, biting my tongue and willing the vein in my neck to stop pulsing! After they took my payment and wrapped my purchase, I looked them straight in the eye and ask, “Are you going to make fun of me when I walk away?” Before either could answer, I asked for their names and told them I was the new corporate customer service trainer and I’d be seeing them soon. Then I walked away. Truth – I am a corporate customer service trainer. Lie – just not for their store!
Maybe good manners and courtesies have changed and mean different things to younger generations. I do however believe that certain courtesies are just plain common sense. Of course, in the words of Mae West, ‘If common sense were common, men would ride side saddle.’
For taking the time to read this story, here’s a sincere thank you!
Written by Rosie Taylor
~~~
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.
Henry Clay
~~~
She said:
Needing to shed a few pounds, my husband and I went on a diet that had specific recipes for each meal of the day. I followed the instructions closely, dividing the finished recipe in half for our individual plates. We felt terrific and thought the diet was wonderful, we never felt hungry! But when we realized we were gaining weight, not losing it, I checked the recipes again. There, in very fine print was: “Serves 6.”
~~~
Creditors have better memory than debtors.
~~~
Blonde definitions
Arbitrator \ar’-bi-tray-ter\: A cook that leaves Arby’s to work at McDonald’s.
Avoidable \uh-voy’-duh-buhl\: What a bullfighter tries to do.
Baloney \buh-lo’-nee\: Where some hemlines fall.
Bernadette \burn’-a-det\: The act of torching a mortgage.
Burglarize \bur’-gler-ize\: What a crook sees with.
Control \kon-trol’\: A short, ugly inmate.
Counterfeiters \kown-ter-fit-ers\: Workers who put together kitchen cabinets.
Eclipse \i-klips’\: what an English barber does for a living.
Eyedropper \i’-drop-ur\: a clumsy ophthalmologist.
Heroes \hee’-rhos\: what a guy in a boat does.
Left Bank \left’ bangk’\: what the robber did when his bag was full of loot.
Misty \mis’-tee\: How some golfers create divots.
Paradox \par’-uh-doks\: two physicians.
Parasites \par’-uh-sites\: what you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Pharmacist \farm’-uh-sist\: a helper on the farm! .
Polarize \po’-lur-ize\: what penguins see with.
Primate \pri’-mat\: removing your spouse from in front of the TV.
Relief \ree-leef’\: what trees do in the spring.
Rubberneck \rub’-er-nek\: what you do to relax your wife.
Seamstress \seem’-stres\: describes 250 pounds in a size six.
Selfish \sel’-fish\: what the owner of a seafood store does.
Subdued \sub-dood’\: like, a guy, like, works on one of those, like, submarines, man.
Sudafed \sood’-a-fed\: bringing litigation against a government.
~~~
“I recently went to the 30th reunion of my preschool. I didn’t want to go because I’ve put on, like, 100 pounds!”
Wendy Liebman
~~~
Prior to our wedding, David and I met with the minister to discuss our marriage ceremony and various traditions, such as lighting the unity candle from two individual candles.
Couples usually blow out the two candles as a sign of becoming one. Our minister said that many people were now leaving their individual candles lit to signify independence and personal freedom. He asked if we wanted to extinguish our candles or leave them burning.
After thinking about it, David replied, “How about if we leave mine lit and blow out hers?”
~~~
A man may make many mistakes, but is not a failure until he starts blaming someone else for them.
~~~
An old man and an old woman were sitting together on their front porch.
“You used to sit closer to me,” said the woman. So the man moved closer.
“You used to put your arm around me.” So the man put his arm around her.
“You used to nibble on my ear.” “Okay, I will be right back. Let me get my teeth.”
~~~
Bill says he and his wife have structured conversations.
“First, she gives me her opinion, then she gives me my opinion.”
~~~
“Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”
Edmund Burke
~~~
Jill and Nadine were having lunch and Nadine looked a little upset.
“Whats wrong?” asked Jill.
“I’m really worried about myself,” Nadine said forlornly. “My memory has always been a source of quiet pride to me, but lately it’s been failing me. I’m having a hard time remembering things from the mundane to the major.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” Jill said consolingly, “sounds like you’ll forget all about it tomorrow.”
~~~
Courtesy is a silver lining around the dark clouds of civilization; it is the best part of refinement and in many ways, an art of heroic beauty in the vast gallery of man’s cruelty and baseness.
Bryant H. McGill
~~~
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
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