I am 60ish and got an unpleasant mouthful from an 80ish woman for not giving up my seat on an airport shuttle bus to a young woman with a baby. I said, she can take the empty seat right next to you …
In any case, I think it was rude of her to assume that someone not standing was being deliberately rude. If I had a prosthetic leg, I would have taken it off and waved it in her face.
If there were empty seats, I can’t imagine why she thought you needed to give up yours. That’s weird.
I agree that around here most people hold doors for each other. In fact, in middle school, someone did a survey and found that teenagers were more consistent about opening doors than adults were.
In Germany restaurants often brought out dishes as they were cooked instead of serving the whole table at once as we generally do here. We learned to say eat up “Sonst wird es kalt!” very quickly - in fact it’s become kind on an in-joke in our house - when ever we are having a big holiday meal and dh is doing the carving we tell people not to wait for him.
" Right up there with cutting up my food for me."
Are there people who will do this for me? That would be really nice!
You should go to Waffle House.
http://abc13.com/society/waffle-house-worker-brought-to-tears-during-honor-for-kindness/3190787/
When my mother taught me to drive, she also taught me to go the passenger door and unlock and open it first before going round to the driver’s side and getting in, regardless of the gender of the passenger. Of course, this was before automatic door locks! The alternative was to leave the passenger standing outside the car while you unlocked the driver’s side, got in, and leaned over to unlock the passenger door.
Now I just make sure all of the doors are unlocked as my passenger and I approach the car, or, if I am already in the driver’s seat and picking someone up, as they approach the car. No one should have to stand around waiting for the driver to unlock the doors!
I have noticed that my H often takes his own sweet time unlocking the door for me when positions are reversed, though. In his case, I think it is a microaggression.
When we were dating, H would unlock the passenger door and open it for me, then close it and walk around to the driver’s side. He told me later that I earned instant “points” by reaching over and unlocking the driver’s door before he got there.