View From The Ditch Bank

MANNERS--For those few of you that have been reading this blog from the first, or those other few that may have come around later, but actually scrolled back to the original post, you may remember that I said that I would not post about my life, at least not very often. And I will not, very often, but on occasion, I will. And today is one of those occasions. Kinda. I think we are not the only ones who get those phone calls that interrupt you when you least expect it. Only now, they are getting to kinda be expected. You know the ones. Wanting you to subscribe to something, or buy something. I have actually answered some of them lately. Mostly not. They always come from some other state, but mostly New York, Florida, or Kentucky, according to the caller ID. One I answered the other day the caller ID said New York, but the man I talked to said he was in Nevada. Oh, OK, like that makes a difference. He wanted me to sign up for some health insurance. And when he started the phone call, he started calling me by my first name. ME: Uh do we know each other? HIM: No but ( my first name again ) I just wanted to tell you about this insurance program. ME: If we are not acquainted, my name is Mr. Lee ( that's the name I use for this blog ) and you can use that name until we become better acquainted. HIM: OK. Well, the upshot of that conversation is that I said no to his proposal. Then a call a day or so later from Florida. ME: Hello HIM: ( my first name ) I want to help you with --------- ME: Are we acquainted? HIM: no, but ME: well, until we are you can use my last name. I am an old man and when I was growing up, it was proper and good manners to not call people by their first name unless you were good friends of the same age and allowed to do so. HIM: Well, times change. ME: Yes, you are correct, but good manners do not. They might be ignored, but they do not change. He used my last name, reluctantly, for the duration of that call. Which did not last long, as I wasn't interested in what he was trying to sell me. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and as I wrote in my original blog, am happy to say so and to be so. In the Church we call each other Brother and Sister as a matter of respect, and only among really good friends do we use other terms of address. And I am an old man, and am very sorry to see that good manners are going by the way side. I hope that there are some young people out there that feel the same way and will start a movement to bring back good manners. And That's the View From The Ditch Bank.