Social customs are usually somewhat of a sign of the times – niceties and other ways of being that rose out of a specific place and time for a very specific reason.
Some of them, like washing your hands after you use the bathroom, continue to be helpful.
Others, like shaking hands, seems to be part of the problem in this day and age.
These 15 people have some ideas on what customs should go the way of the dodo, so take a read and see whether or not you agree!
15. Antisocial isn’t always bad.
That not having Facebook, Instagram, or other social media profiles is “different” or isolationist in some way.
To add to that apparently not posting on facebook is seen as something weird.
I just use it to get in contact with people that for some reason refuse to use emails through messenger.
14. Don’t invade someone’s personal space.
Touching pregnant women’s stomachs without consent.
13. Wait, what?
In Denmark we have this tradition of throwing ground cinnamon and pepper at people who turn 25 and 30, respectively, if they are not yet married.
Except people often overdo it, strapping the victim to a street light and use an entire kilogramme or more.
It’s harsh, stupid and wasteful. It really needs to stop.
12. A waste of money.
Making couples feel obligated to have giant, fancy weddings.
Or when the couples parents say things like “oh you just HAVE to invite your distant great aunt Vicky and all her children to your wedding!”
Meanwhile you’ve only met them twice and they don’t want to be there either
11. In matters of taste.
“The customer is always right” being used as an excuse to be a f**king a$$hole.
The full phrase is “the customer is always right in matters of taste”.
It’s meant to mean that if someone wants to buy a product, you sell them it, who are you to judge if they are willing to pay for a tartan painted car?
10. Chronic pain exists.
When people say. Your too young to be hurting. Eff you my back hurts.
And “you can’t be tired if you’re young/don’t have kids”
My chronic illness would disagree but ok
9. You can choose your family.
That because someone is”family”, you should force yourself to spend time with them and be “nice and respectful”, no matter what kind of person they are or how they treat you.
This goes along with the enabling acceptance of “that’s just how they are” rather than condemning poor behavior choices.
8. It’s ok to rest.
Rest being seen as lazy. If I take a day off of work simply to sleep in and rest at home instead of having to have some sort of big plans or destination it shouldn’t be seen as anything less.
Rn I am at home, having taken the day off because I didn’t sleep well and have been napping, couch potatoing with my doggie and doing nothing. It’s great but I feel SO guilty. Why? There’s no good reason, really, other than ingrained ideas.
7. Cremation for the win.
Expensive funerals. The funeral industry is insane.
Yeah dude exactly, I don’t know about you guys but I’m getting my ashes spread somewhere badass and calling it a day, sure cremation ain’t cheap either but MUCH better than a stupid casket and funeral service
6. Just say “I can’t afford it.”
Having to purchase gifts for extended family that you cannot afford because it is Christmas or another holiday.
Last year because of covid I only saw my parents and it saved me a fortune not buying 20 meaningless gifts for extended family I see once a year
5. You can write your own.
Giving Greeting cards for every single event imaginable. Why pay $5 to give someone a piece of paper that will get thrown out the next day?
I’d rather you give me $5 and skip the card.
4. Good riddance.
Though it looks like this custom is fading away during the pandemic…but how about we stop glorifying us “being model employees by showing up to work even while sick?”
I was at a retailer for 14 years, and I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I used to see managers and supervisors dragging themselves to work while sick to please their superiors. In January 2020, I ended up getting the flu from a co worker that decided it would impress the store manager if she still showed up while sick with the flu.
That culture went away REAL quick when we started getting COVID cases in the store I was at…and I too ended up getting a mild case of COVID. I’ve called out any time in the past when I felt sick…and I will continue to do so as I normally did.
3. We need to band together.
Discussing salary with co-workers should no longer be taboo.
They don’t want the workers to realize how screwed they are. If the workforce is free to discuss what they’re being paid, the next thing they might decide collectively is that they want to be paid more.
2. Why indeed.
Worshipping celebrities. I don’t get it and it seems to just create tons of problems.
Kim Kardashian has 70 million Twitter followers. The number one search term on Google WRT Kardashian is “why is Kim Kardashian famous?” Why indeed.
1. Hard to believe how different it is other places.
Putting the onus on the customer to tip the Service staff, especially in the US.
Stop overworking the Service staff, pay them a living wage, and if a customer does want to go above and beyond to reward someone for their outstanding service, they can do so, but are not obligated.
I don’t see the argument for keeping most of these, to be honest.
What else should we nix? Let’s keep going in the comments!
