Originally came upon this in Austin Kleon’s blog post entitled Basic pleasantries, where the author writes:

I am no saint, but I’ve been shocked lately by how saying “Hello,” “Please,” and “Thank you” to workers in service industries often elicits surprise and wonder and gets me treated like the Pope. I don’t know what is going on with most people, but it seems like a large number of us are becoming assholes, either downright mean or totally oblivious to others. I probably don’t need to tell you lovely subscribers this, but just in case: Try this week to acknowledge your fellow human beings and treat them with basic dignity and respect. The Golden Rule not only works wonders, it heals the soul!

Per Wikipedia:

The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would want to be treated by them. It is sometimes called an ethics of reciprocity, meaning that you should reciprocate to others how you would like them to treat you (not necessarily how they actually treat you). Various expressions of this rule can be found in the tenets of most religions and creeds through the ages.

Three forms of this principle are presented:

• Treat others as you would like others to treat you (positive or directive form)

• Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated (negative or prohibitive form)

• What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself (empathetic or responsive form)