Employees who don't say "thank you" or "you're welcome"… Is common respect dying in America?

Bad training...and management. Also, parents who do not raise their children to learn common manners in social situations. I find that strange when I say not just 'thank you' but also 'have a nice day' to someone in customer service and they look uninterested.

Being a supervisor in a retail situation I can tell you that this usually happens only with very young employees, more specifically ones who are experiencing their first jobs. We have a policy requiring you to say "Hello" to every customer you pass, and I practically have to twist some people's arms to get them to do it. It's not rudeness. They're young, nervous, and despite normally being loud as hell they're somehow shy with customers.

Unless the associate is otherwise being rude (like talking to someone else while serving you, or giving you a nasty attitude) I just wouldn't take it personally. Given a while on the job they'll change.

I'm and also not that old, but I notice this with many people a few years or more younger than me. It's also that way with the younger generation in other countries I've been to. I believe it's a generational thing. In the advanced societies, many younger people have been raised with an entitlement complex.

If you give them your cell phone number, they will text you every time!!! Seriously though, I think that teenagers and young adults are losing their communication skills due to electronic technology. Proof positive is the exact circumstances in which you speak.

This is not only an American issue, it is happening all over the world. Also, parents are busy working to support their overspending, so there is no one home to teach those children common manners.

I hope not, but it sometimes seems that way. Perhaps it's the idea that they are entitled to those jobs, rather than that they need to earn them.

It is a habit established in childhood by the parents. No habit, no "please" and "thank you."

Have a polite day.

Etiquette takes over where laws end.

Probably bad parents.