Manners (Out of Stock)

We were all taught it, yeah?

Please.

Thank you.

Say it with me —
please.
thank you.

Simple.

Basic.

Human.

---

But somewhere along the way,
those words got pulled from the shelves.

Out of stock.

No announcement.
No warning.

Just gone.

---

And now the world feels like a supermarket
where everyone’s in a rush
but no one’s looking
where they’re going.

Trolleys crashing.
Bodies cutting.
People darting past like—

like the rest of us
are just reduced items
in the way.

---

I see you.

Yeah — you —
charging through the aisle
like time’s about to expire.

No “excuse me.”
No “sorry.”
No nothing.

Just noise.

Just presence
without awareness.

---

Don’t tell me people have lost their voices.

Don’t.

Because I hear them —
loud enough when they’re chatting bollocks,
loud enough when they’re laughing,
loud enough when they want to be heard.

---

But when it comes to
please…

thank you…

suddenly it’s silence.

---

And it’s not ignorance.

No.

It’s choice.

It’s choosing speed over seeing.
Choosing ego over empathy.
Choosing “me first”
over
“are you okay?”

---

Because today—

today I had to stop.

We had to stop.

Me on my scooter.
Natalie with her stick—

stopped dead

because someone
couldn’t take
half
a
second

to notice
we exist.

---

And that’s what it is, isn’t it?

Not just bad manners—

erasure.

---

Like we’re background noise
in their main character moment.

Like accessibility is optional.

Like decency
is too expensive
to put in the basket.

---

But here’s the thing—

I’ve seen the kids.

The younger ones.

Generation Alpha,
whatever comes next—

they’re picking it back up.

---

A “please” here.
A “thank you” there.

Like finding stock
in the back room
no one told you about.

---

Proof
it’s not gone.

Just abandoned
by the ones
who should know better.

---

So maybe—

maybe it’s time
we restock.

Not with noise.
Not with ego.

But with the quiet stuff.

The human stuff.

---

Say it again—

please.

thank you.

---

Because it costs nothing.

And right now?

It’s worth everything.