Patrick Swayze Wants You to Be Nice

How many people can say that they've learned an important life lesson from Road House, the cheesetastic 1989 movie in which Patrick Swayze plays the world's greatest bouncer? But yesterday, when someone on the MeCo Google Group linked to this New York Times column about the dearth of "common sense and courtesy" among airline passengers, I realized that a certain line from Road House has always stuck with me: "I want you to be nice, until it's time to not be nice." (This link will take you directly to that line, but be warned: The rest of the scene has some NSFW language.) It's a good guiding principle, because it's easy to remember, it's universally applicable, and it allows for some discretion -- i.e., it's not telling you to be a pushover, just to try being, you know, nice. I'm sure you'd appreciate it if all your attendees opted for this approach -- at least, before they decided to not be nice.