Throwing sand in the gears of the social machinery.

The fabric of modern day society is unraveling. It probably sounds all alarmist and melodramatic taken at face value, but I think that's just symptomatic of the day and age. Short sensational comments are de rigueur for news agencies, publishing houses, and advertising agencies. When the average person is being hit from all sides almost from the moment they wake to the moment they fall asleep, the owner of the biggest "club" wins. However, that does not mean that web of interaction known as society is not degrading.

"Common courtesy" is phasing out. With it, the understanding of why such behaviors and words came into being in the first place. Interpersonal interaction is the play of many parts working together. The more people involved, the more intricate the interplay becomes.
Anyone that's ever tinkered with an engine or had sex should know how important lubrication is to keep moving parts from sticking and wearing. Good manners are the lubricant to prevent friction between people.

It is the rare person who will perform more than a sketch of acknowledgement when I greet them entering the store. Even less will respond in any way to being wished a good evening upon leaving. It may be a part of my job, but that does not mean I am being insincere. First of all, there is nothing more inherently hostile than someone merely going through the motions of courtesy. Second, it's more work than it's worth to feign.

At the counter, customers will usually just drop cash in front of me without a word. I'm oft tempted to just scoop the cash off the counter with a chipper, "thank you" when this happens on the assumption it is a tip. Nine times out of ten, if they do address me, it is to dictate what denominations of change they desire. There is no "please" or "thank you". There is no request for change to use in the arcade or vending machine. I am merely a biological component of a change machine, of no consequence or regard. It's such a normal occurrence, I'm normally not consciously aware of it, but on busy days, I'll find myself annoyed and my patience greatly diminished.

At times, patrons will insist on talking on their cell phones while attempting to make a purchase. Some will pause in their conversation to address me and conclude the transaction and that doesn't really bother me. It's the ones who dump their merchandise in front of me and never make eye contact I find vexing. They'll wander up, leave me to start ringing up their purchase, and never for a moment let their attention waver from the phone. Right. Because they are too popular/important/cool to take the couple minutes it takes to deal with the person behind the counter. Sometimes they will just blindly wave some cash or a credit card in my general direction. Sometimes they will just wander off a bit leaving me to wait mid-transaction until they remember they were attempting to buy something. Of course, if there's someone else waiting to be rung up, I'll just kill their sale and they move to the back of the line. Oddly enough, they tend to end their calls pretty quick after they notice they've been bumped.

The funny part about this is that this neck of the wood prides itself on being friendly. I suppose it is, to a degree. It depends on whether you expect the "friendliness" to last beyond one exchange.

Year by year, it seems like people are losing the ability to interact in person. Netiquette is overtaking etiquette. MySpace and IM's are more integral to networking than actually going out and cultivating friendships face-to-face. I look at the popularity of the gonzo film style of porn and wonder whether it is just a fad or a visible indicator of where society is headed.