The unbearable decency of being

A couple of weeks ago, a girl sent me an email with an attachment of an article she wrote. She said the following in her mail: "take a look at it and let me know what you think." "Please" is not so small a word that could have been missed out, but I let it pass. The article was about education and I let my love for the subject rule over any other sense.
The article was fair but had enormous scope for improvement. So, I replied the very same day asking her about the target audience and mentioned a few places where the article had grammatical errors. I then proceeded to invite her to a discussion (over email) regarding a different structure which would engage a reader in the subject from the outset. I am still to receive a reply from her (even a "I'll get back to you soon").
------------------------
A friend of mine needed some papers I had in order to complete a sale. He was in a hurry to get the sale done as soon as possible and urged me to get the papers in spite of knowing that the papers were in Madras and I, in Bangalore. He called me every hour to know whether I had booked my tickets to Madras or whether someone was going to send those papers to him. I rushed to Madras, got the papers, and couriered them to him well before the date which he wanted to make. I am yet to receive (it has been well over a month) a call/mail/SMS from him saying he received the papers (let alone informing me about the sale, etc.).
------------------------
A team member tells me that he didn't test his work against the stipulated test suite. I ask him to run that test suite in order to be sure of his deliverable and before informing management. He tells me, "I have run what I feel is enough. If you want to run it, you can do it yourself." I had to assure him that his work cannot be completed by someone else (duh!) and he would need to revisit his level of commitment to his work.
-----------------------

I have many such examples when I have come to realise that being decent (not nice, not courteous, not anything glamourous, just decent) is quite an enormous feat. While the world over people seem to be concerned with euphemism (mistaking that for decency) and sweet-talk, I fail to see any move towards basic decency.
I think it is unfair to expect a human being to be decent and hence, I think, the lack of any slipping in that direction. Why should someone be decent? Since I expect the world to work for me and they are obliged to do what I say, I have no need to be decent. I might employ sweetness and "decency" while specifying the job and ensuring its completion, but that is business-as-usual. Decency is an unbearable burden in our everyday affairs. Being decent requires me to care about the other person and I seriously don't. Why should I care about everyone on earth? Even the few tens of people I interact with, don't deserve my care. Aren't they adults? Why should I be nice to them? I asked them to do a job, and they have done the job. The matter rests. Should I have the onus of making them feel good for having done the job? For Christ's sake! It was their job! And this whole rigmarole of being nice takes so much of my time. Are they paying me for it? Is anyone paying me for it? Of course not.

Of course.