WTF Happened to F$#@ing Good Manners?

I don't know if anyone is aware of this, but there was a time -- not that long ago -- when a woman would enter a room and all the men would stand up and take off their hat. Yeah, seriously. She could be 18 years old or 78 years old, but men would be on their feet when she entered a room.

What I'm saying is Men used to have manners. They used to acknowledge the presence of a woman by refraining from skanky talk, lame innuendo, and swearing.

Well no more.

Lou and I grabbed lunch the other day at a pretty nice establishment. So I'm not talking like Taco Bell, I'm talking cloth napkins and mahogony wood-paneling. But the guys sitting near us were dropping the F-bomb like it was too much to carry. F this and F-ing that. All just inches away from me.

Now I'm not a prude, but this was really bugging me. Here I am trying to have a pleasant three-martini lunch and these strangers are cursing all over the place right in front of me. Worst part of all: I don't know who to blame, the Men for doing it, or the Women for letting it happen.

You watch old movies from the 50's and a woman walks in the room, and all the men stand up. What does the woman say? "No no no, don't get up." And I want to scream, "Shuttup, you crazy broad! Let them stand up!" Over the years women kept saying "No no no, don't get up," or "Oh, don't mind me," when a man would swear. And progressively it's escalated to what we have now: a bunch of cursing, inconsiderate, profane people who don't recognize that the others around them do not want to hear this auditory pollution.

Well, it's time we take a stand. It's one thing to sprinkle a little French while gabbing with the gals, or even in the middle of a co-ed poker game. But doing it loud and proud in a public place amongst strangers is just rude. We should react when a stranger swears in front of us. And if a man stands up, pulls out our chair, or opens the door, we shouldn't say "Oh, that's not necessary." We should say "thank you" for crying out loud. These polite rarities don't happen often, and they should be embraced!

If only everyone in society treated each other with the same respect they did in the movies.