Keeping track of life’s unwritten rules

In Major League Baseball, when you hit a homerun, you keep your head down and take your base. No showboating. No “look at me, look how special I am” bat flips. No showing up the pitcher or the other team or you’re likely to get a 95-mph fastball aimed at your ear the next time you’re up to bat. That’s the way it is, that’s the way the game is played.

It’s the same for the professional golf tour, the PGA and the king of unwritten rules: let faster players play through; never walk in another player’s putting line; never throw your clubs; fix divots and always rake bunkers to name a few.

But it’s not just sports. Everyday life has tons of unwritten rules too. Here’s a few:

–If someone shows you a photo on their phone, never swipe left or right.

–Never put your music on speakers when in a public space. It’s not like everyone wants the same genre or is in the mood for the same music. Get your headphones.

–Never leave your shopping cart in the middle of the grocery aisle.

–If you use up all of the toilet paper, refill it.

–If you borrow someone’s car, fill up the tank before you return it.

–If there’s space, always leave at least a one urinal gap between you and the next guy.

–Walk on the same side of the stairs/sidewalk that you would drive on.

–When you approach another vehicle, turn down your high beams lights.

–When you’re at the gym, wipe down your equipment when finished.

–If the train is full, move over so that others can sit too.

–If you had good service and, even if it was so-so service, remember to tip your waiter the full 20 percent. Most waiters make a pittance.

–The captain is always the last to leave the ship in the event of a disaster.

Some people pay close attention to the unwritten rules, others—and these usually seem to be the same people who drive nonstop in the left lane during morning rush hour—seem to pay no heed to the unwritten rules.

I fall in line with the first group. I worry a lot about unwritten rules and go to great pains to make sure that I don’t forget about them. I worry about them because I know that life can have its ups and its downs. I want to help make it a better world, I don’t want to be bringing others down.

Now if everyone else just felt the same way.