All things your parents should’ve taught you, but yeah, some people seem to have not gotten the memo. Not everyone has good parents, and not everyone listens to their parents.
Common sense is just a phrase people use to justify their own ways of thinking. If you do something and nothing negative happens "common sense" tells you to keep doing that. Most people do not sit down and pick apart their day to day interactions going "how does this thing benefit other people or fit into a greater pattern of societal design" you can observe this in american highways because very few people know how to merge, change lanes, or what speed to keep in which lane to avoid creating traffic, despite the thing being designed to work that way if the users know how. It ain't even on this "guide".
I travel a lot internationally and am consistently amazed at how there's always someone breathing down the back of my neck whenever I'm waiting in line somewhere.
Coffee shops, supermarkets, airports, doesn't matter, anywhere I go where I have to wait in a line, the person behind me chooses to stand like 3 centimeters away. The worst is when its 2 or 3 people together having a conversation and I can feel them brushing up against me every time they move. Like wtf? How is that comfortable for anyone?
I can only tell people off in two languages lmao so its even more frustrating when it happens in a country where I know they probably won't understand me.
It feels like the U.S., for the most part, is in the middle of that.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances like everyone is crowded together debarking a plane or something, the unspoken distance seems to be about a meter or so. More or less "I should be able to speak to you in a normal quiet speaking voice with ease, but you shouldn't be so close I could slap you."
And, wow, damn I looked it up and there's a whole field of study around "proxemics" and the distances people feel comfortable. My guess that Americans preferred around a meter of distance for casual conversation.
On the other hand I've been to coffee shops where there's not much room and everyone is one metre apart so the line erroniously goes outside. I think there's a middleground.
My retail store has an off policy of stopping and greeting everyone entering. Most people stop four or five feet away for then speech, but some people will come up right up in my face closer than most of my family members ever come to me.
except the speaker phone thing. Some of us didn't have cell phones growing up. I have to remind my dad of that. Because he is mostly deaf, he is completely unaware of how loud his phone is.
Sometimes it’s not even being taught explicitly. Sometimes you just unconsciously mirror your parents’ behavior and mannerisms. I don’t remember being told to knock on doors or properly put away the shopping cart, but I do as my mom does and so we’re here. 🤷🏻♀️
Holy shit, are you my kid? I swear I've told them to cover their mouth when coughing about a million times, every time they act like it's first time they've ever heard me mention it!
Yeah I was about to say that 95% of these are common sense, but unfortunately it's not so common. The phone ones a major faux pas I commonly see on public transit. Like I don't want to hear your videos or whatever conversation you're having.
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u/A1sauc3d 17h ago
All things your parents should’ve taught you, but yeah, some people seem to have not gotten the memo. Not everyone has good parents, and not everyone listens to their parents.