Lately, I've been doing a lot of driving for my internship, and I've noticed a lot of people do not seem to have as much common courtesy that I thought.

Honestly, it takes two seconds to turn your turn signal on while switching lanes, or stop if you see someone trying to back out in a parking lot. It doesn't take much out of your day to be courteous, especially on the road. Maybe try going the speed limit and not be right up against my bumper.

Not only have I noticed that common courtesy seems to be lacking on the road, but it is all around us. People are constantly impatient and blind to see how they act sometimes. For example, my family and I were out to dinner and there was only one waitress working our section. The restaurant was super busy and she was trying her best to make everyone happy and get their food out on time.

A large family came in and were waiting for refills of water, and I get it, you want a refill but you clearly see she is busy. The mom of the family gets up angrily and grabs the water pitcher from the waitress as she was filling another table's water. She says in a sarcastic tone, "We'll be taking this now."

If she had waited maybe two more minutes, the waitress would have been over to refill their drinks. It's this kind of impatience and lack of common courtesy that really bothers me. I think if we just really thought about our actions, people would realize their actions come off rude.

Another thing I've noticed is that people do not seem to care about others as they should. I recently took the metro in Washington, D.C. and they have certain seats designated for those who need handicap seats. Yet people do not leave them open or give them up when they clearly can tell that someone needs them. They are only concerned with sitting and being comfortable when other people might need it more than them.

I feel like it should not be this hard to be courteous towards others. Of course, I'm not perfect about this all the time, but it has been a wake-up call for me recently that I need to respect others and be more courteous. It does not take much effort or time, and it can make someone's life much easier when you show common courtesy towards them. You do not know what someone is going through that day, so make it a priority to be respectful and patient.