# Which outdated customs should go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2021, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958 "2021-10-05T23:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/81 "2021-10-07T01:00:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’d say the same about high heels. I’ve never been able to understand how you women walk in those things, and what they do to your feet. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/82 "2021-10-07T01:01:45Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > That’s called a wattle. internet win for you! ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/83 "2021-10-07T01:07:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Procrustus](#): > > > > I’d say the same about high heels. > > They apparently had a functional origin (a way to keep one’s feet in the stirrups while riding a horse), but they, too, became purely about fashion, as well as a status symbol. Although riders still wear boots with a distinct heel on the them – and this is not to keep the feet in the stirrups but to increase the odds that if you fall off, your foot won’t get stuck in the stirrup as you fall, because being dragged is very unpleasant – those heels are not particularly high. The women’s fashion heel is ancient, the stiletto heel is just one modern incarnation. It is not only that it changes the look of the leg. I believe the main attraction is the fragile, unsteady, tottering, near-helpless gait. Very sexy. ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/84 "2021-10-07T02:35:39Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I get that companies sometimes want employees to follow “scripts” and be pleasant. Forced smiling is worse than the fast food guy going “will you be having our new chicken chunks” before you order or the Genius Bar employee having to say “that’s not recommended!” when some customer throws their phone in the laundry. But I am not sure forced smiling is common. In Canada, it was odd when Walmart arrived and their greeters were especially cheery. Presumably they picked the most positive people for that role rather than dictating expressions. I can’t speak about Canada, but in the US forced smiling is very much a part of any lower level customer- facing job, most particularly for women. You’ll be told by your supervisors to smile any time they catch you with anything other than a look of manic gleeful joy as you greet your customers, so that they know that assisting them is the culmination of all of your hopes and dreams come true. Customers will comment if they catch you not smiling, from the truly concerned, “Is everything okay with you today?” to the snarky, “Would it kill you to smile?” “A pretty girl like you should always have a smile on her face.” Those jokers always got my Wednesday Addams dead-eyed lips- only smile. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/85 "2021-10-07T02:56:33Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > > [@SanVito](#): > > > > If I want to re-wild my front garden, I damn well will! > > I’d love to do this, but my spousal unit would have kittens. Kittens would love a wild front garden (or a back one, for that matter) and watching them play in it would be delightful. So you get the wild garden, spouse gets the kittens, all’s good! (Yes, I know what you actually meant. But I like the image.) > [@TRC4941](#): > > I don’t need to see a dead person for closure or to truly realize that they are dead. I did. I needed to see my parents’ bodies. I’m fine with it restricted to immediate family in private, and optional for those, though. (I needed to see bodies. My sister needed not to see bodies. Both of those things are fine; people vary.) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/86 "2021-10-07T02:58:40Z")
- Glorification of school sports. Look, I get that your darling little whoever is great at the sport, but it’s really not the job of the public schools to mandate adoration of YDLW. Technically it’s a school club, and thus it should be run like a school club. If that means YDLW doesn’t get selected by the top NFL team, then too bad. - Graduation exercises. Those are not only a royal pain, but also completely silly. Add into that the costs involved (family members flying across country, hotel fees, gown & cap rental, etc.), it’s just another thing to suck money from the student body. - Tipping (as **Max\_S** mentioned). It’s a crappy way to treat the employees and it absolves the employer from his duty to pay a fair wage. Yes, the law supposedly (AFAIK) requires the employer to make up the difference between low tips and minimum wage, but really, how often does that happen? And the government’s take (heh, heh) is (again, AFAIK) to go ahead and tax the worker on what the tip presumably were. - Dress codes at school and work. School dress codes for male students apparently are never or incredibly rarely enforced, while dress codes for female students are over-enforced. On top of that, school dress codes are usually too vague to be of any real value, other than teaching the student body that women are to be treated as objects. Dress codes at work are equally ridiculous. Why can’t a man wear shorts to work when a woman is permitted to wear skorts but a man must wear long trousers? - Neckties. I despise those things. They’re not useful and they’re certainly not an attraction IMHO. I don’t even wear a necktie to church. - Homeowners associations. From what I’ve read in the (most likely sensationalist) news over the years, they’re an out of control mini-government. Look, there’s already a government in place everywhere on the planet. If you want something regulated, get it done by the outfit that’s supposed to do that: the legitimate government. - Diamonds. They’re rocks. And they don’t appear to be as rare as certain outfits want you to believe. Why is it that some particular rock is the way I’m supposed to let the love of my life know I love her? (Luckily for me, the love of my life doesn’t buy into that nonsense and would likely pitch a fit if I were to plunk out the money required for a “traditional” diamond ring). - Variable pricing on a car. Why is it that a car gets to be sold at a far different price than the price on the sticker attached to the item for sale? Can you imagine what would happen if you were to have the “car buying experience” when you went to buy your groceries? “Let’s see here, Mr. Monty; you chose a pizza for $5 but now you want me to discount it?” Get rid of the damn fake numbers on the sticker and sell the beast for the advertised price! - Mandatory patriotic displays, aka “Ceremonial Deism”. As I’ve mentioned often enough on this site, there is no such thing as “ceremonial deism”; it’s religion. Also, a forced display of devotion/love is worth nothing. And that’s leaving out the petty tyrants in schools who punish those students who exercise their actual rights, choosing not to participate in such displays. - Adoration of war criminals. I really cannot believe it’s come to this. Today, a certain large segment of our society is hailing actual war criminals. - Basing your opinion on how the military is or should be run on comic books. Enough said there. - Proliferation of “I love you” days. Yeah, Valentine Day is ridiculous enough already. Now add into it all those other love days. For example: Singles’ Day which was originally intended to celebrate not being in a relationship, but is now another Valentine Day. Oh, don’t forget Double Seven Festival. Yep, another VD. How about just showing your love that you love her/him by doing normal things every day of the year to show your love you love them. - Doing something just because “it’s tradition”. Used to be traditional to sacrifice one’s first born. Everything talked about in this thread, IMHO, seems to have just as much justification. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/87 "2021-10-07T04:14:09Z")
Canadians expect a degree of politeness and efficiency. I hope few expect fake smiling or major subservience when ordering a routine burger. In fact, I think a fair number of Canadians would recognize and possibly mistrust too much forced bonhomie, although the natural kind is usually welcome. Canadians tend to be somewhat sarcastic but usually suppress this urge successfully during commercial transactions. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/88 "2021-10-07T05:07:11Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Chalk me up as a second person unclear on what’s wrong with this adorable tradition. I don’t care one way or the other about kindergarten graduation ceremonies, but I wondered: how much of a “tradition” are they, exactly? I’m pretty sure that when I was a kindergartener a half-century ago, nobody I knew had heard of any such thing. To my surprise, the company Rhyme University that seems to produce a lot of the kindergrad merch has apparently been in business since 1972. I found kindergrad ceremony programs on the internet dating back to the 1940s, including [class photos in caps and gowns](http://www.wasecaalums.com/public/viewimage.cfm?imgid=141). ISTM that it’s much more of a thing nowadays than it was even 20-30 years ago. There’s probably nobody anymore who hasn’t at least heard of kindergarten graduation. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/89 "2021-10-07T06:22:17Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > There’s probably nobody anymore who hasn’t at least heard of kindergarten graduation. Well I first heard of it just now reading this thread. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/90 "2021-10-07T06:56:47Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I also knew exactly what car I wanted and what I wanted to pay for it, got a firm quote by email, and showed up with a cashier’s check. They **still** played the let-me-ask-my-manager game, and the whole process at the dealership took almost 2 hours Sorry, I’m replying to this post without having read the rest of the thread. Apologies if this point has been made… Once the car dealership industry has got as far as delivering quotes electronically, it’s a short step to taking payment electronically as well, removing the opportunity for performative salesmanship. In the UK there are now a number of online brokers who do all this for you - you tell them what kind of car you want, and they go out to the dealers gathering quotes (all automated… you have quotes back in minutes). Pick the quote you like and place your order on the broker’s website, and they take care of everything. I haven’t looked at these services in depth, but they are becoming common. ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/91 "2021-10-07T07:07:39Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > After all, I’ve never actually heard anyone speak the words “Children should be seen and not heard”, but I can feel it in the air. Funny thing is that there are two very loud children in the same apartment building I live. Every time I hear them they make my day. What I’d like to abolish is closing outside areas of bars at 21:00 because the noise might bother the tenants in the same building. Why did they move there if they think that the bar on the ground floor causes them suffering? But bureaucrats don’t work on logic. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/92 "2021-10-07T07:59:04Z")
> [@tavaritz](#): > > What I’d like to abolish is closing outside areas of bars at 21:00 because the noise might bother the tenants in the same building. Why did they move there if they think that the bar on the ground floor causes them suffering? Yeah. I used to live next to a bar and got that question. You know what? We lived there YEARS before the bar moved in. So why should we put up not only with noisy new neighbors but people urinating on our front door, passing out in our backyard, and otherwise being drunken nuisances? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/93 "2021-10-07T08:04:26Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > I can’t speak about Canada, but in the US forced smiling is very much a part of any lower level customer- facing job, most particularly for women. You’ll be told by your supervisors to smile any time they catch you with anything other than a look of manic gleeful joy as you greet your customers, so that they know that assisting them is the culmination of all of your hopes and dreams come true. Honestly, if there’s one good thing that’s come out of the pandemic, it’s that wearing a mask means I never have to force a smile at work ever again. I’m probably going to keep wearing a mask at work for life even if covid stops being a threat at some point and we don’t have to wear them anymore. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/94 "2021-10-07T09:37:44Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > The women’s fashion heel is ancient Heels used to be a unisex thing, and for certain periods weren’t even worn by women, if anything in Europe they was more of a guy thing until the 1800s. Entire fashion eras went by when men wore heels and women generally didn’t, or didn’t wear as exteme ones. The thinner heels for women seems to come in in the 1700s. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/95 "2021-10-07T09:39:31Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > I can’t speak about Canada, but in the US forced smiling is very much a part of any lower level customer- facing job As David Mitchell would put it - “it’s the sign either of a liar or a moron” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E9PSg0sQyfs/hqdefault.jpg "QI on customer service in the UK") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9PSg0sQyfs) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/96 "2021-10-07T09:54:43Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Diamonds. They’re rocks. Sorry, I can’t get behind this. Yes, I agree that the diamond cartels price them way above their actual rarity, and socially mandating diamond engagement rings is all kinds of problematic, but gemstones are not just rocks like rockery pebbles or the pumice you scrub your bunions with. They were admired and valuable before there ever were any cartels, and for good reasons. Few natural things catch light like a well-cut diamond does. You can argue that people are fools to pay the prices they do for them, and I’ll happily agree. But to argue that they’re _just_ rocks is equally as silly as thinking they’re super rare. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/97 "2021-10-07T11:13:32Z")
Yeah, humans are hardwired to like shiny things. That’s also why gold and silver are valuable. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/98 "2021-10-07T11:37:27Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I believe the main attraction is the fragile, unsteady, tottering, near-helpless gait. Very sexy. Yeah, I’m sure my wobbly, ankle-twisting gait really gets 'em hot! 😛 I don’t know how women walk in them either. But good luck finding dressy shoes in flats - at least that was the case eons ago when I still would do dressy. And I don’t think I ever owned heels higher than maybe 2.5", and I still had a tendency to fall off them. Just looking at stilettos makes my feet scream! > [@Monty](#): > > Dress codes at school and work. Yes and no. Why are long pants OK, but as soon as they’re made of denim, they’re _unprofessional_? And those black leather shoes must be wingtips, not athletic shoes. Because reasons. On the other hand, sadly, some people need to be told that worn, raggedy, stained clothes, however comfortable, are inappropriate in most workplaces, jammies are for sleeping or lounging at home, and frankly, I don’t want to see my dentist wearing a t-shirt with a political message or a crude slogan. Sadly, some people are clueless and have to have guidance. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/99 "2021-10-07T11:55:58Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Yeah, humans are hardwired to like shiny things. That’s also why gold and silver are valuable. Also that gold and silver don’t rust or tarnish like iron, copper, bronze, and brass. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958/100 "2021-10-07T11:57:35Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > and frankly, I don’t want to see my dentist wearing a t-shirt with a political message or a crude slogan. My favorite though was a t-shirt that said “Ignore last T-shirt.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-outdated-customs-should-go/951958.md?page=6)