I was standing in the seating area of a Corner Bakery the other day, a tray of hot soup in hand. All the tables were full and remained that way for 10 minutes. Finally, the manager asked a couple loitering at a table if they would mind relinquishing it to people who needed to eat. At this suggestion, the couple became irate, going on about how they were paying customers. Feeling like I had led a poor sheep to slaughter, I attempted to help the manager. I asked the couple to move, not because they should, but because they could, and because they would be a great help to others who weren’t coordinated enough to eat their soup standing up. Twenty minutes later, after finally getting a table and finishing my soup, the couple was still sitting there.

That is the kind of behavior for which I fear Northwestern has become a breeding ground. My scouting reports are coming in with overwhelmingly negative responses: People just aren’t courteous to each other anymore.

Weinberg sophomore Molly Greene recently told me about an offensive display of rude behavior. While Molly was trying to share a book with the girl next to her during a discussion section, “the girl folded the book so I could not see, and then covered the rest with her hand. We all know how important it is to raise our hands during discussions only to try to make ourselves feel smarter by using bigger words than the person who spoke before us. Obviously, this girl was apprehensive about my ability to show her up in this ever-so-important discussion, and would go at any length to keep me in a disadvantaged position.”

Weren’t we all taught about sharing in first grade?

Another student who repeatedly had to miss Friday classes because of athletic matches encountered similar selfishness. She asked to borrow a girl’s notes and the girl agreed, but then she avoided her at all costs. Another girl she asked responded, “I feel really uncomfortable with giving you my notes because I’m really competitive in school.”

Weinberg junior Aileen Guiney put the problem in a more theoretical framework. “It’s most frustrating when it feels like it’s a matter of someone else’s time being more important than everyone else’s,” she remarked. “It seems a little ridiculous that at a university where such a high work ethic is demanded, we fall short in taking a simple step to the side to let a biker go by without having to go off-road, or holding the door at Tech an extra five seconds so that it doesn’t come crashing into you and your cup of coffee.”

These instances, and others like them, might seem trite and insignificant. But what’s life if not the little things?

So why don’t we start a courtesy campaign at NU? Try to be cognizant of what side of the sidewalk you are walking on. Don’t have your gossip party in the middle of the sidewalk. Hold the door — it doesn’t have to be for everyone entering the building, just the person right behind you. A “please” or “thank you” here or there won’t hurt.

Cub Barrett was right that we should do something about our complaints. I don’t see myself staging a sit-in to lower printing prices, but courtesy is one thing for which I take action.