Politeness Goes a Long Way

One small word put a huge smile on my face: ma'am.

I have a [soon-to-be-over] part-time office job that receives heavy volumes of phone calls practically every day. We get all kinds of phone calls ranging from complaints to weird questions, and some people are nice while others are straight up pissed off. In a string of bland phone calls that required me to answer the same question a gazillion times, I got one man on the other end who said, "Thank you, ma'am," when the conversation ended. Immediately, I thought of older people who demand being called sir or ma'am out of respect, and now I see why. It really does make you feel important and respected. I could go on about people demanding respect rather than working to earn it, so I'll save that aspect of this for another day, maybe.

A smile crossed my face basically subconsciously. I could tell by the voice that this man was older than me, yet he didn't treat me like a child, and believe me, not only do I still look 15, but I sound it too, especially over the phone. That one word made my entire day for some reason. Maybe it's because I don't often hear people address each other with such kindness. I feel like it is so rare these days that it's almost antiquated, and honestly...when I hear sir or ma'am, an image instantly crosses my mind: a black and white sitcom from the early ages of television, when kids were too scared not to finish a sentence without either one of those words when speaking to an adult. I know I don't use it, but I also wasn't raised to, not to say my parents didn't teach me to be polite because they did. However, I feel like times are evolving to the point where it's not common to hear those words anymore.

And I kinda like it like that...I like that time is evolving and that there are still little things in life that could brighten someone's day because it isn't always experienced. Because if I did hear it often, it probably wouldn't have affected me like it did. I would've taken it for granted, and maybe would've even felt offended if he hadn't said it.

It's the rare things in life that you treasure the most, no matter how big or small it is, no matter if it was done to purposely put a smile on your face or not.

This has inspired me to start another blog. Every day, or as often as I can, I will write about one little thing that affected me in a positive way. I think you'd be surprised what small things make me smile, or make me think, and generally just make me happy. I'll keep you posted, if you'd be interested.