Whatever happened to common courtesy?

I was in an airport shuttle on the way to my hotel. A sign on the roof of the van above the driver's head read, “Tips appreciated.” I thought about that. Throughout the trip the driver largely ignored his passengers while deeply engaged in a conversation on the radio with another driver that edged on the inappropriate. While loading and unloading he treated everyone’s luggage with callous disregard. And when spoken to he was surly, gruff and short with everyone.

Needless to say, there was no tip for this driver to appreciate. The whole experience started a chain of thought: I wondered, just where has common courtesy gone?

 It may simply be a sign of my advancing age but it seems that what were once the normally expected courtesies of daily life have become sorely lacking in current society. Doing a bit of research I discovered that I am not the only one who has noticed this. A quick internet search turned up hundreds of articles on the current lack of common courtesy. In fact, one website, common-courtesy.com, makes it clear that it has become a lucrative enterprise to reintroduce this concept to modern businesses and job seekers. Full story...

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