Modern manners. 1

I have just read an article about Cinema Etiquette, which contained a 10-point guide, written by Paul Ross, and most of it is, or should be, pure common sense and good manners, but lurking at number 5 is this gem – “ Keep feet off chairs; remember your fellow cinema goers have to sit in them”. 

This is a particular gripe of mine – more often than not when you watch chat shows the guest comes in and promptly curls their feet, shoes and all, under them on the sofa, or rests them on the nearest table. You are also seeing this happening more and more in films, TV shows, and public places like waiting rooms or parks, as well. Now in the confines of your own home you can do exactly what you like, but in a TV studio, or someone else’s home, or in a public location, and on public furniture, I find it disgusting. Your shoes have walked on pavements which contain, among other things, human spit (something becoming increasingly common, and disgusting), and dog faeces, and you bring them indoors and put them on seats that others will be sitting on! Or, worse, on a table that others will possibly eat off. Not least is the fact that, even if the pavement is clean of animal or human contaminants, you are transferring dirt on to someone’s furniture, which shows a complete lack of respect. Would you go in and smear mud (or dog excrement?) on their sofa or chair? No? But it is OK to do it with your shoes?

I was not brought up in a strict environment, where manners and etiquette were drummed into us, in fact I cannot even remember being “taught” formally about the correct way to behave, but good manners were always around, and you learn from that, or should learn from that. This is just another example, though, of the decline of society, where consideration and respect for others, and for the consequence of your actions, has been replaced with an attitude (unconscious for the most part) that I can do anything I want, and to hell with everyone else!