Do You Use Public Places the Way You Would Want Others to Use Them?

As selfless, magnanimous, good hearted and altruistic you think you are, there resides a selfish ghoul within you who rears its ugly head every now and then unless completely tamed. We are all human and as they say ' to err, is human', - this does not grant us the rights and privileges to transgress, but since it is likely to happen, we must all learn how to conquer the ghoul.

The touchy topic of public places has been explored under numerous other articles, but this one is devoted entirely to public places as all of us need to be more careful and conscious of others.

Let's take a few simple scenarios to understand.

Have your hands clean and free of soil, grime, grease and dirt when you open doors, taps, hang on to railings and banisters or use a part of your arm that is clean to avoid soiling surfaces that would need to be touched and used by millions of others.

Stick your chewing gum on to a piece of paper before disposing it into a bin. Pasting it on the sides of tables or spitting it directly into the base of a bin is not acceptable.

Use the ketchup bottle, tissues and cutlery placed on your table so that anyone else can use those too. Meaning, do not touch the tip of the ketchup bottle with your fingers or your food. If it drips, wipe the tip clean with a tissue. If you need a tissue, pick only one with utmost care. Do not pull out the entire stack and stuff them back in. Those who come after you deserve a clean tissue paper too. Don't yank extra cutlery out and if you do, make sure you are not touching the tines of the fork, the heads of the spoons or the edges of the knives.

After picking a food item with a toothpick, please don't stuff the toothpick back into the food. Once you use it - it is yours and yours only. Keep it with you and use to pick something up the next time around, throw it in the dustbin or simply keep it on the side of your plate.

Refrain from touching food items with your fingers if you do not intend to take and eat them. Everyone else who picks sandwiches, rotis or string hoppers after you need not eat food which has already been touched.

Keep the environment clean and free of your waste. Either discard your waste into bins or take them back home to dispose of wisely.

Keep your feet and shoes off seats in public transport. If you needed to dust off prints of shoes before sitting on your train seat after a long day, you would not be too pleased would you? If there is space and you want to relax, make sure that you treat the vacant seats with due care by removing your shoes/ using a handkerchief.

If you are traveling with a large number of bags, ensure others are not inconvenienced and do not have to sacrifice their comfort for your loads.

As much as I dislike to bring this topic up, I must – no thanks to the folks with their terrible ghouls who are yet to be conquered. The loathsome topic is that of public restrooms and washrooms which generally leave much to be desired. If you have not used the restroom to leave it in a condition that you would like to find it, I regret to tell you that you have not played your part.

What has happened has happened, but let's be full of etiquette as we move forward and ensure that we make it a habit to use public places in such a way that we would want others to use them as well. Let's work towards making sure that we protect, preserve and care for public places as though they belonged to us.