Whatever happened to saying thank you when someone did something for you?

So I was in the Gate Station the other day getting a coffee and there was a kid in front of me who was acting very nervous and twitchy. I moved back just a bit so I could keep a closer eye on all of his movements. I have found people that act like that do unexpected things and it is better to be ready for said unexpected event than be taken off guard. It was not terribly cold but he had on a hoody with the hood up and his hands intermittently being wrung against each other and then stuffed into the pockets of the hoody. I could tell he was hopped up on something, these days it is hard to tell what it might be but he was most assuredly jonesing for something. I did notice that he had no snacks or other items, maybe he was getting gas or maybe he needed some smokes.

In front of him were two customers, the first was buying lottery tickets, you know the kind of person who has a plastic sheath with all the premarked cards in it. Well she gave the cards to be scanned to the clerk one at a time, I think she was picking numbers for every single game that Florida offers. It was an agonizingly slow process, it was not bothering me but my friend was getting irritable I could tell, shifting from one foot to the other and back again at an ever increasing pace. The woman was not done at that point, she pulled out a sort of crib sheet and started telling the clerk which of the scratch off tickets she needed. This process was slowed even more by the fact she could not read the writing on her crib sheet. Finally she got her 27 dollars worth of lottery tickets and smiled on her way out the door. I was temporarily relieved when she was done, the fellow noticeably relaxed. Whew I thought!

I was amazed when I could tell the next customer was going to be just as slow. I was really starting to get nervous for this poor nervous fellow when this customer started pulling out a ton of change to pay for his gas. I mean he counted out 23 dollars worth of change so he could get gas. Now there is nothing wrong with that, there have been times I had to pay for gas with change as well but Mr. Nervous was not as understanding. He started with the deep inhalations and exhalations and I thought here we go, this is going to get ugly. For a moment I considered just telling the guy to go and fill his car up and I would pay for it, just to let this poor fellow get to the cashier and take care of his business before he had a coronary or worse, went postal on everyone in sight. Well I am not independently wealthy and my luck he would have been in a motor home or something like that so I did not make that offer.

After counting out the last $1.78 in pennies and moving on it was our guys turn at the cashier. All this guy wanted was a pack of matches, whew I thought, give him the matches and he is gone, along with my nervousness about what he might do. Oh no, not so fast, the clerk tells him that unless he buys a pack of cigarettes the book of matches will cost him 5 cents. Yikes, this guys outrage at the world was just starting to well up when I intervened, I said dude pick a lighter and I will cover you. I used to smoke and there is nothing and I mean nothing worse than not having a way to spark off that smoke. So the clerk gave him the Bic with the Nascar advertisement on it and his mood immediately calmed. Whew, I was relieved, disaster in the Gate had been averted and I was down only a buck and half for the lighter.

Now the next part is where I became truly amazed, he turned and walked out with a new lighter and did not even say thank you. Now I did not buy him the lighter so I could get a thank you, my ego does not need stroked that badly. I bought the lighter because this fellow was obviously under stress and my thinking was if for a buck and half I can relieve any stress from his life it was worth it. I have noticed that thank you is not used as commonly as it once was, what does that say about us. Please and thank you are cornerstones of courtesy and just plain politeness. Now I have no idea the pressure this guy was under but to neglect to even say thank you. Come on now, I do not care how bad your day is, that is one that does not go unsaid, no matter what.

Have we gotten so wrapped up in our own little worlds that we forget the most basic of common courtesies?