I think I live in a similarly odd world. Put your shopping cart back in the queue, help old folks pick up things they've dropped, let someone merge, take care of a sick friend... These things don't pay, but without people doing them, the world is a poorer place. So carry your coworker's bag, and try not to pity the state of attitudes too much. We've all tightened down our caring potential at some point, but somehow I'm seeing less of the potential happening here and now than I used to. Guess I'm a hick. Bonne chance.
I wonder whether the world has become a less kind/courteous place, or if it just seems that way. Miss Manners had an interesting comment recently about the "stress" excuse for general rudeness/disconnectedness in our culture though, if the effect is real and not imagined: she pointed out that in times of Really Big Stress, such as during disaster cleanup, people become more polite, more caring, and more connected, so stress can't be the simple explanation for loss of manners in everyday life.
Different kind of stress. Daily stress makes people focus on their own troubles too much, and they sometimes have blinders on where other people are concerned. Disaster stress is a shock to the system; people are forced to notice something outside themselves, and at that point it turns out that most people are decent after all.
Decency
Re: Decency
Re: Decency