Are Seniors Exempted From Being Polite?

Hey I am a senior. I am sure there are plenty of people old and young that are rude. I could make the same complaint about young people. I live in Canada and use public transportation a lot in a big city here. On the buses right by the door there are several courtesy seats intended to be used by handicapped and elderly people. There is a sign that states that. Time and again there are young people some clearly originally from other countries that occupy those seats who will not get up when an elderly person with a cane enters the bus and no seats are available. I am 73 years old and I cannot tell you how many times in a month I get up and offer my seat to a frail or otherwise handicapped person. When I approach younger people in those reserved seats and point to the sign they either make a snarky remark or pretend they don't understand English. The signs are self-explanetory so even people who don't speak the language can guess what it measns. I also find a lot of younger people very patronizing and disrespectful. I always hold open doors for people behind me and when people in front of me hold open a door I thank them and smile. Life is so much easier if people treat each other with respect.

i have also encountered some of them myself but one thing i know is that it is not a general issue it could be the people you met

I don't know why they aren't polite, but I feel everybody should be, whatever their age or social standing.

Yes, I think some feel that they deserve the best treatment and the best place because of their age. Others probably end up bumping into people because of poor eyesight or poor body coordination. Others are just plain grumpy.

no! i haven't encountered such people whom, at their old age, are not practicing politeness. actually, even if they are old, they still have to practice what they have learned when they were still young. politeness should come in any form. when they bumped into you, they SHOULD have to say their apologies and never act as if nothing happened. even if their senior citizen, they are not exempted.

its because they tend to abuse the fact younger ones are the one who should be polite to older ones. they expect the respect due to them because of their age. for me, it should not be. they are the one who have more experiences in life so they know what its like to show respect and be respected. i've encountered lots of older people in my country who are so polite and so grateful to the young ones for the help given... some of them said that not everybody would help old people.

I don't think it's just a young people thing. I see a lot of polite and impolite people of all ages. There are times when i think that common courtesy has taken a holiday, but when you describe what you see in your country, then it doesn't seem so bad here. I am very glad that you are taking the time to learn our ways, and to be more polite. Thank you!!!! And to answer your question, no one should be exempt from having good manners.

yes i already did... and yes some of them are way too advantageous of the fact that they are years ahead of us. I come from a country where respect for the seniors is a top priority and we do it well. but there are also some seniors here who use these factor as a way of earning money or getting ahead in everything they do. sometimes its unfair to those people who give respect to them yet don't get the due respect they should also have.

Well, in my country you're told that all old people are valuable, and you should resepct them. And there are some old people who use this unwritten rule recklessly, because if someone tells them off, they are like "Didn't they teach you to respect the elderly?". I'm not saying all of them are like this, but a part of time sometimes behave really impolitely, but they can get away with it. They stand in front of the queue, they don't want to let people get off the bus when they want to get on, they run for the bus-but when they get on, they start the one-man theatre play called "Oh, my leg is really aching" and mock people for not giving them their seats (even though when the other person is visibly sick)... or when there are empty seats, but they want THAT ONE SEAT you're sitting on. Also, there are some older shopkeepers and slaes assistants having been socialized in an earlier era, who think that the customers are for them, and not the other way around... I went to an Avon brand store to ask about a certain shade of lipstick, and the lady (if I could call her one) almost shouted my hair off for supposing that she could know the shade names...