General Chat

I agree. Personal skills/manners should be taught in schools, and if not certainly by employers.
We have found ourselves in the position where my husband is no longer able to manage our financial affairs. This has meant a lot of form filling, visits to banks and phone calls.
The staff in the banks were excellent but when it came to phone calls things were not always good
On one call the girl insisted she could only speak to my husband and just kept repeating questions to him in a very hectoring way, speaking very quickly and loudly and was very impatient when he got confused.
On another one the girl asked me the questions, asked me to repeat them to my husband, and for him to give her the answer.. She was marvellous and spent a long time on the phone explaining things to me
With an ageing population, and more and more banking etc done online as branches close the staff that deal with people by phone need good personal skills

I once asked my grand daughter aged about 5 where her manners had gone. Quick

as a flash she replied “ they’ve gone on holiday” :-D

That said she’s grown up with good manners so no problem.

IMHO manners are taught by example.

Wish my O H did. He phoned the council to say one of our recycling bins hadn’t been emptied. At least that was the plan. He went mad - I expect there is now a black mark against our name. Completely unnecessary, they’ve always been polite, as I have been, whenever I’ve rung.

He didn’t like me telling him he was wrong to sound off at them so now there is no sound in our house.

Many years ago ,I was at a relative's house over xmas.we had gone to 3xchange gifts etc.My little brother was about 6 and was given some sweets but didn't say thank you.
My relative said, haven't you read the book of Manners at school yet?
No,I don't think so he replied!Well it's about time you did they told him.

I personally think from my recent experiences over the last 5 years that manners and courtesy have almost dissapeared in every way.

I think it's about time that schools taught more on socially acceptable behaviour,good manners thank you & please etc.

When children are very young we do teach them well but once they go on to secondary education things change.
We teach many subjects,some are pretty standard but I think teaching pupils how to handle life situations at work and in general would benefit all of them hugely.
When we are calling s company to order,cancel,make s complaint,it's abundantly clear to me,the person dealing with you has no skills whatsoever in communication,empathy etc.
When you leave school say at 17 and enter the workforce let's say a bank or the post office.They train you how to process things like wages,deposits,order currency for a holiday but not how to treat the customers.Role playing at school in different situations would really help pupils to develop skills for life.

Maybe I'm from a different generation(I was a 60
s baby)but I was brought up to treat people the way I would expect to be treated.
So how and where has this broken down in society!

I almost feel that if I make a complaint that I shouldn't and just move on.

Anyone else feel like this!
Florence in the Hebrides