Common Courtesy

A courteous, respectful, or considerate act or expression.  This is the definition of the phrase “common courtesy.”  In today’s world it seems too many people have forgotten all about common courtesy, if they ever knew about it at all.  There are many instances when common courtesy could be used.  It’s also better to err on the side of caution and use common courtesy.  One example when to use common courtesy is when you are invited to someone’s house for a holiday dinner.  If you have said you will be there, the person is expecting you and plans to cook food for you (and your family if applicable).  If you say no, then the host(ess) knows they don’t have to cook extra good.  But the host(ess) always needs to know how many people will be there so they know how much food to cook.  So if something comes up when you are going to be hours late for said dinner, you should extend common courtesy and let the host(ess) know you will be late.  You would also do the same if you are unable to make it at all to the dinner.  Otherwise your host(ess) goes through the extra time and expensive of cooking extra food meant for you, and you don’t even have the courtesy to make a call or send a text saying “Hey, I can’t come.”  It’s not hard and only takes a couple of seconds.