On Manners

Neon Memes • A new, black Malibu pulled onto the parking lot of A Taste of China (9225 Gravois Road, 314.638.2600). There, to celebrate the unexpectedly vernal debut of November, I was satisfying an almost clockwork craving for shrimp fried rice―$6.05 including tax. Into the restaurant shuffled the Chevy's driver, an ursine woman with white hair. "I want..." she said to the woman at the counter. Then: "I want..." And then again: "I want..." Having placed her tripartite order, she plumped her bulk into a booth behind me. At no point during the placement of that order had the Malibu matron used the word please. A single, simple syllable, by no means a tongue twister. Its simplicity, however, belies a social context of signal complexity, whether categorized as etiquette or "mere" politeness. Please. Thank you. You're welcome. Such phrases once meant something in America, defining a baseline of civility even in a roadside Chinese-takeout joint. Please. As I exited A Taste of China, I lapsed into an instant's reverie. If the Malibu matron started choking on her Mongolian beef, I wondered, would she still think it beneath her to gasp that single, simple syllable in hopes of receiving the Heimlich maneuver? ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor