In 2000, I stayed at a country farmhouse belonging to a member of the landed gentry in Britain (the horsey set). I had rented a room there on short notice. A young man, approximately 20 years old greeted me with flawless civility (how adorable). He said his mother would handle my room arrangements and lamented that she was not present when she was supposed to have met me.
That woman soon arrived. They had one of the most polite arguments I’ve ever heard between mother and son with him protesting politely that she should consider his plans with his friends and how her careless delay would offset plans he’d put in motion a month ago. She was equally well spoken in her rebuff of his objection. All perfectly polite. As far as I could tell, they were keenly aware that someone of vastly lower social significance (that would be me) was present and they would not claw at each other publicly because their class (superior) was above such displays even if my opinion of them could not matter given my lower status. I don’t think I am imagining this - I caught a whiff of this when I read an interesting account written by an American who was describing how reading Jane Austen (my favorite author) affects his speech and thought processes for a short while afterward until he moves on to other material. His wife said of him something like “Reading Austen makes you much more polite and much less sincere.”
He went on to regretfully concede that she was right - in order to say just the right thing at just the right time to maximize consideration and discretion, he felt he had to be a bit insincere.
But still, I am a closet Anglophile. I can’t help myself.
Oh, what you imagined was there was there all right! You told that story amazingly well too, lol.
I’ve actually found the Brits to be quite polite. Maybe not so much in London, but they sure were in Birmingham.
One was a guest of the hotel and the other was the desk clerk. The desk clerk was trying to explain that the hotel was full and he was not able to get the type of room he had booked. The guest could not understand that he was getting a better room at the same price as the cheaper room.
They went back and forth each saying the same thing and the guest not understanding what was being said. I have never seen to this day such a polite conversation.
Finally, because I was tired of waiting in line, and because I understood what they did not seem to, I butted in and explained. They both thanked me. I can't understand why the desk clerk was unable to get his information across to the guest and I was able to do it in one sentence.
I have been to England Scotland and Ireland twice, once in the 60’s and again in the 80’s I didn't see the rudeness that others are talking about, France was a different thing. I am sorry that things have changed.