Friday, September 12, 2008

Thank You Ma'am...

Well it is official I am a Ma’am. I stopped for gas the other day and the young boy working (who I see all the time and have never been anything but joking and cool with him) told me “thank you Ma’am” to which I smiled and shook my head and said “oooh don’t call me Ma’am” and of course he replied “sorry Ma’am”, to which I replied “Damn”.

I appreciate manners. I grew up in a household where manners were required, and taught at a very young age. In addition to the usual Please and Thank you, when replying yes or no to a question we would have to include Sir or Ma’am in our response, especially to grandparents and parents, that was HUGE and if forgotten would result in a “what do you say” from my mom or dad. I guess a lot of people think it is a southern “thing” but I always thought it was just good manners. When asking “can I” my Papa would always respond “I don’t know can you” to which a quick “may I” would follow. Now that I am having a child of my own I struggle with the Ma’am and Sir response, should I teach this, will it be over the top…will someone *ahem* cuss at my child for using these precious manners?

I guess it all falls into place, I mean I still use the manners I was taught daily and surly little effers that have no manners drive me insane, so I guess like all things a happy medium is where you end up, and you just have to be thankful for what your children absorb.

But I still hate being a Ma’am because in my manners lessons it meant you were old.

~S