How Polite Are We?

[fcgv]

How Polite Are We?

We ranked the world. Out of 36 cities, Toronto placed third, Montreal 21st.

FROM THE EDITORS of READER'S DIGEST CANADA

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It’s lunchtime in Mexico City and a young man follows a slim girl wearing dark glasses into a restaurant. Without looking behind her, she lets the heavy glass door swing closed, almost smashing him in the face.

In a stationery shop in Seoul meanwhile, a female customer wants to buy a disposable pen. It’s a minor purchase, but 56-year-old store owner Jang Byung-eun takes the time to talk her through a variety of different models. When she makes her purchase, he takes the time to say a friendly thank you.

A chill wind is blowing on a late-winter Wednesday morning at the busy subway exit at Yonge and Eglinton streets in Toronto. Twenty-year-old Monica Hinds is struggling through the rush hour crowds on her way to work when, up ahead of her, a woman drops a beige folder, scattering papers everywhere. Commuters walk by, but Monica takes a minute to stop and help the woman pick up her documents, handing them over one by one. When thanked, she smiles kindly and says, “No problem!”

The young man risking a broken nose, the customer in Korea and the woman with the unwieldy documents were no ordinary members of the public. Each was a Reader’s Digest researcher taking part in a unique test to see how helpful and polite people are around the world.

From Thailand to Finland, from Buenos Aires to London, people worry courtesy is becoming a thing of the past. Service in stores has become surly, they say, and youngsters have lost respect for their elders. Lynne Truss, in her international bestseller Talk to the Hand, claims that we live in “an age of lazy moral relativism combined with aggressive social insolence” where common courtesies are “practically extinct.”

But is such pessimism justified?

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2006/07/polite.php

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Are we truly a courteous people? That is what many Canadians like to believe.

Edited August 18, 2007 by fcgv

[Guest American Woman]

My first thought when reading this thread was "I wonder what city placed number 1?" followed immediately by "I wonder if it was NYC?" And it was.

Amsterdam being the least friendly isn't difficult to imagine. Bangkok does surprise me, but then in a way, so does Montreal. I know Montreal has a 'snobbish to the non-French' reputation, but I found it to be curteous enough. I'd like to point out that no American ciites are on the "least courteous" list; that's a nice contrast to the Ugly American stereotype.

I have to say, I find the reality doesn't measure up to the steroetype of the "polite Canadian." Not that I think you're impolite, just not any more polite than any other nation. I've run into some really nice, polite Canadians but I've also run into the Canadian counterpart of the Ugly American. Maybe Canadians are "ugly" in a different way than Americans are, but it's ugly none the less.

[jdobbin]

Are we truly a courteous people? That is what many Canadians like to believe.

Courtesy is taught. Either family or work is instrumental in shaping how polite we are.

I think one thing I see more and more is people trying to take advantage of someone else's politeness. For example, letting a driver of another car enter your lane and having the driver behind trying to scoot in as well. You have this happen enough and you eventually start seeing drivers not letting anyone in.

[jdobbin]

My first thought when reading this thread was "I wonder what city placed number 1?" followed immediately by "I wonder if it was NYC?" And it was.

Many large American cities have a well entrenched training program in their service industries to train people in polite behavior as a matter of business. I'm not at all surprised New York is up there. They have sort of pioneered this courtesy. And I think September 11 has had an impact as well but the people of that city might have been like that even before. I've heard anecdotally though in the media and from prominent New Yorkers that it has had an affect.

Toronto and Montreal have very courteous service in their businesses. Since I don't live there regularly, I don't know why there is a difference outside the business industry.

[jbg]

How Polite Are We?

We ranked the world. Out of 36 cities, Toronto placed third, Montreal 21st.

FROM THE EDITORS of READER'S DIGEST CANADA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2006/07/polite.php

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Are we truly a courteous people? That is what many Canadians like to believe.

New York rules!!!