Common Courtesy Tag

Disrespectful Assumptions

Almost every day someone says “respect our veterans.” That’s a noble sentiment and a good idea; to which I’d like to add, “…and don’t forget, our veterans are a very diverse group.” Apparently someone in Wilmington, North Carolina assumes that all veterans are male because when Mary Clare Caine – an Air Force vet who served in Kuwait – parked her car in a “Reserved for Veterans” parking space,...

Upset? Angry? Try Respect.

Right before Christmas, we discovered we had been lied to by a sales rep at our cell phone store and, furious, we went back in January to return some unwanted merchandise we’d been told we “had to buy.” But the “lead” customer service rep who was processing our return – despite knowing we’d been lied to – acted as if we were the liars and refused to treat us with respect. And when we got even...

Respect For Opponents?

Respect can surprise us in interesting ways. How many of us would have the courage to deliberately lose an important race to an opponent who’d made a mistake? In December of 2012, in an extraordinary show of respectful sportsmanship, Ivan Fernandez Anay – a long-distance runner from the Basque region of Spain who was running in second place in an important race – deliberately...

Practicing “Regular Respect” Is Easy Until It Isn’t

If you’re like most people, you’ll hold a door open for a stranger when entering or leaving a public space like an office building, coffee shop or retailer. And, if you’re like most people, you’ll say “excuse me” when you bump into someone in public. And, you’ll say “bless you” when someone sneezes. These are all typical examples of what I call “Regular Respect.” Others call it “common...