I am rarely anything other than polite and courteous to others. But then again, I am a Southerner who was raised by Depression/WW2-era parents, so it is steeped in my bones.
As the Colonel said, not only am I from the South, I'm IN it... as a grey-bearded man of middle years, yet still with enough 'alpha male' look and manner to suggest fracking with me would be a bad idea, I am rarely treated with anything other than polite respect by strangers and acquaintances. I hear the young men talking to each other in a coarse and rude manner, but they don't direct it at me when I approach. While manners are eroding even in the South, respect to elders remains fairly solid.
On the rare occasions I encounter someone who is agitated to the point of hostility, I attempt to politely de-escalate the situation while remaining prepared to deal with any sudden violence that might result. I find this usually works out well enough. Again, it probably doesn't hurt that I am older than most such people, and that I don't look like someone safe to victimize.
Given my age and life experience I can usually hold my temper fairly well, which helps since it is rarely useful to lose it in response to someone else losing theirs. However, I admit I have my limits like anyone...
As one comedian said, "I didn't plan on being a jackass today, but you have just pushed my Jackass Button...."
Regionalism isnt very polite. Sorry to inform you, but people in the North/west/whatever were also raised to be polite. BTW there is no such thing as a alpha male, the concept was based on bad science (according to the researcher himself).
