“Good day dear sir. May I commend you on your driving ability. Godspeed to you.“

There are few things in life that bother me more than someone being disrespectful. That really gets my goat. Good manners cost nothing. Why should ignorant people feel that they have the right to disturb my metaphorical goat that was quite happily grazing in its pen of solitude, minding its own business? Some people…

Take the people who are either incredibly unobservant or unbelievably inconsiderate, and pretend not to notice when an elderly passenger gets on the bus. No really, please take them. Away from me. No amount of staring seems to have the desired effect. Allow me to be the chivalrous one then. Maybe they just don’t care.

Just like a man I had the misfortune to meet in my gym. At peak times, it’s common to share use of the machines, alternating sets. That’s normal. This guy acted like I’d just slapped him on the arse and said “Giddy-up big boy”, whilst undressing him with my eyes.

It’s not like I wanted to engage in some male bonding with a stranger. I don’t talk to people in the gym. I wasn’t expecting to high five him in between sets. Hell no. When I made this clear and explained that it was the appropriate gym etiquette, he simply said: “But I don’t want to”. I glared as much as I dared, but what could I do? He was a big lad. The prick.

When I travelled in India a couple of years ago, the internal flights I took were unlike any others. We’d no sooner touched the ground than people were out of their seats, trying to get their hand luggage. I couldn’t stand up due the congested walkway, yet I felt someone pushing against me. I turned around, about to angrily remonstrate with the man sat next to me when, to my surprise, I discovered that the man who was sat by the window had one leg either side of the guy next to me and was attempting to climb over me too! What was wrong with him? I glared yet he smiled, wobbling his head apologetically. There was no way he was getting past.

Even worse than these examples, are the losers who think it’s fine to abuse someone online, just because they have the advantage of anonymity. The cowards. Or at least they think they have a cloak of invisibility. Whilst most of them will get away with it, there have been recent examples of individuals being successfully prosecuted for comments made online. Such as the student who was jailed for 56 days for racist comments made on Twitter. Hah, in your face racist! I’m sure he had a comfortable time explaining his views to his fellow inmates.

In fact, I recently had my first abusive comment on a recent post. It’s taken nearly two years, but finally I got one! And it was clearly from someone who is intellectually challenged, as he (it must have been from a man… or boy… or manboy) clearly misunderstood my intentions when writing the Natalya The Stripper posts. He stated that he thought I was sad. I was actually feeling quite upbeat at the time. But then I don’t think that he was predicting my mood, but merely attempting to portray his belief that I wasn’t a cool dude like him. Thank God for that. The fact that I was adopting a particular persona for comic effect was clearly lost on him.

The question that I want to ask is: why? Can’t we just all get along? Living in big cities where it’s busy is no excuse for bad manners. And being nice to a stranger is actually a buzz. A modicum of effort from you to help someone in need can make a difference to his/her day. Why not try it?