Page 14 - COBH EDITION 1st OCTOBER DIGITAL VERSION

‘Good manners are a thing of the past, but some people are fighting back’ -
Trevor Laffan
I heard that Irish Rail are adding a new initiative to their service to make travel more com-
fortable for pregnant women. Maybe they’ve already done it but anyway, it’s their belief, that
expectant mothers should be treated differently to other passengers, so they’re introducing a
badge for pregnant women. A ‘Baby on Board’ badge.
They want to alert customers to pregnant passengers and
hopefully, that will encourage others to offer up their seat for
them. It would also help to avoid the awkwardness often felt
by some pregnant women in having to ask for a seat. I think
it’s a good idea, but it’s sad reflection on modern society that
we need it in the first place.

I’m not completely surprised by this development though,
because lack of manners is a huge issue these days. I have
commented on this in the past and I think it’s a shame how
we have left our manners slide.

The way people speak, or don’t speak, to shop assistants, waiters, bar staff and the like,
leaves a lot to be desired. Nobody seems to say please or thank you anymore. Customers
regularly conduct their business in complete silence and often leave without saying a single
word to the assistant behind the counter. Consideration for others has also disappeared.

I went to a pharmacy recently and I saw a lady driving into one of the mother and child spac-
es outside. She jumped out of her car and toddled off to a supermarket nearby. She certainly
didn’t have a child with her and she didn’t go into the pharmacy, so why did she park there?
She did it because she felt like it.

It didn’t bother her that she might be making life more difficult for someone with children
who needed to go to the chemist. It suited her and to hell with everyone else. Another guy
pulled up in a small car and abandoned it. You couldn’t call it parking because the front of the
car was in one space and the rear end was in another. It wasn’t much bigger than a super-
market trolley, but he still managed to take up two spaces.

I was standing at the express check-out in a supermarket and there was a woman in front of
me with two large baskets of groceries. While she was unloading the contents on the counter,
she remembered something else she needed and went off to get it.

I had a newspaper and a loaf of bread, so I expected her to tell me to go ahead but that
didn’t happen. She had enough items to fill a small trailer, but she didn’t care. She suited
herself and the rest of us waited.
At another supermarket I visit, it’s common to find cars abandoned at the fuel pumps. The
drivers get their petrol and then go inside to do their shopping. This ties up the pumps for
others, but they couldn’t care less. The staff regularly make announcements advising drivers
to park elsewhere once they get their fuel, but they may as well be talking to the fish fingers.
This kind of behaviour is not life threatening and maybe it’s not very important to a lot of
people. But it demonstrates a growing lack of consideration for others and it is an indication
that some people are just totally consumed with themselves.
There was a time when it was normal to open doors for people and to give up a seat for
an elderly person or a pregnant woman. They didn’t need a “Baby on Board” badge. These
days, the pregnant lady could deliver the baby and raise it to maturity before being offered a
chance to sit down.