I believe manners has really shaped me into the person I am today. Manners is the one thing my parents always drilled into my head ever since I was a child. No talking back, always saying thank you, and smiling even if someone is rude to you is what my parents have been preaching for all nineteen years of my life.
Both of my parents are high school teachers. My father is now an assistant principal but he taught before that. I remember when I was around seven years old, I got in trouble at school for talking back to a teacher. I remember begging the teacher to not call my parents because I knew they were going to be highly upset. However, the teacher still called home to my parents and explained what happen. I got off the bus and I was absolutely terrified. I walk into our front door and I see both of my parents standing at the table watching me walk in. Which is weird because they always came home at three o’clock and I got home around two o’clock so I knew this was not going to be a fun conversation. My parents yelled at me for about an hour saying how manners are very important and how if I don’t have manners I would have a tough time in the “real world.” At that time, I did not know what that meant, but I had a feeling that the conversation was important. I ended up remembering that moment for some reason.
About a year ago, I started to work at a bar. Now, this was not my first job but it was somewhat difficult on my first couple of shifts. There was an older man that was being just flat out rude to me. I’ve had people be rude and mean but this was just different. He came in a lot, which meant I was going to see him quite often if I continued to work there. I remember I was complaining to my dad and telling him I wanted to quit so bad because I just could not shake this guy. My dad just simply told me, “Remember your manners.” I thought, well alright I will just try my best to be nice and polite. When my dad said that, it took me back to when I was seven and that incident at school for some reason. Anyways, I went into work a couple days later and this guy was mean right off the bat. I was nice, I smiled, and was being over the top with politeness. When the guy was about to leave, he turned to me and apologized for being rude to me for that last two weeks and said I was one of the most politest people he has ever met. In that moment, I felt fulfilled and I continued to work there.
Having manners taught me that I can turn a situation around. Just simply being nice to people can change a person’s outlook. It might not happen at first, but they come around. I believe that having manners really shaped me into who I am today.