Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Sorry

Yes, Canadians say 'sorry' for a lot of things. This is a form of 'social lubricant' - a nicety we perform to keep everything ticking over nicely and avoid friction. Some non-Canadians see it as a weakness, like we're trying to belittle ourselves before others to make a less likely target of aggression, but we see it as just how you let people know they matter. We were raised to be nice people and think of others.

Another thing we do a lot is say 'thank you' - like multiple times in a transaction, not just if someone is buying something from us but if someone is selling us something, when waitstaff brings our food or drinks, if someone is doing their job, if someone is basically just being a nice person and not a douche. It's another thing we do to help us all get along.

And we judge you when you don't do it. If you don't say 'thank you' to someone who has done something for you, even if it's just their job, we usually assume you're a self-centred asshole.

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