I've always held doors for women, pulled out chairs, helped them on with their coats, retrieved items from high shelves and let them go first. I grew up without a father and my mother taught me manners. When I came of age in the 1970s, women would often not say "thank you," even, sometimes displaying anger. I did it anyway. From the 1980s on, almost everyone says "thank you," except for a brief period, after the 2008 election when I had several incidents where men pushed aside the woman I was holding the door for and went first -- without a "thank you." After that anomalous interlude, everyone was back to expressing gratitude. I can't remember the last time a woman didn't thank me, but it must be decades ago.