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I have a friend at work who I often get the bus with. When he gets off the bus at our stop, he never says a word to the driver.
I think this would be considered rude (we're British) and I'm actually embarrassed when he doesn't recognise somebody providing a service.
I'd like to approach my friend about this but I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is?
Note: He literally just walks off the bus without saying a thing.
As a UK native, to me, it can be considered impolite to not say thank you to the bus driver, but I wouldn't consider it rude. Your friend might not be doing it on purpose. Being rude to the bus driver would be purposely saying rude things to him, rather than just walking off the bus. There is no expectation to say thank you on the bus driver's part.
You can only set an example by doing so yourself rather than explicitly calling him out on it. It'd be a different story if it was hospitality staff, who were providing a service to you individually rather than a group of the general public.
Speak by example. Get on and off immediately before your friend, and be very polite to the driver (e.g. saying something like "are you alright?" and "have a good day", respectively). Your friend will very likely become curious about your attitude and might ask you about it. Then you got your chance to tell him/her why you think this is good.
Whether this is rude (or even just impolite/unfriendly) depends on where you live.
Where I grew up in a smaller town, it was definitely considered normal to say thank you to the bus driver when getting off. Note that these were buses with only one door at the front, so you had to pass the driver to get off.
Living in London now, I'd say it's more normal not to speak to the driver at all. Note that London buses almost always have two doors (one at the front and one in the middle), and you exit from the middle door, which is nowhere near the driver. Saying thank you would mean shouting across the bus!
I've noticed that some people say thank you to the driver in London regardless, and assume this is people brought up in smaller towns like me, but otherwise I think it's perfectly fine not to thank the driver unless they've done something in particular for you (e.g. waited while you ran for the bus).
Good answers here already on how to go about explaining it to him, but to answer your question of Do you think this is rude?, as a Brit myself I'd say no. If it was a personal service offered to you, for example, a taxi, then yes it would be considered rude to leave without thanking the driver. However, the bus is a service to anybody who wants it, and the driver goes along a set route; it's not a door-to-door service. Personally, I still thank the bus driver, but wouldn't consider it rude not to.
Similarly, in a supermarket, I would thank the cashier at the checkout who provided a service directly to me by putting my shopping through the till. But I wouldn't thank the person who is stacking the shelves, as they haven't done something solely for me.
If Britain is anything like Ireland then it's customary just to say, "Thanks" to the driver as you get off the bus.
But really if I were you I'd just forget about it, there's no need for you to get embarrassed and it's not exactly rude or any reflection on you.
Just continue to say "Thanks" yourself, and hopefully your friend will pick up the habit, but if not, don't worry about it.
