Here are a few basic principles that will get you through your day-----this is for two specific readers, but applies to us all:
1. Step outside to answer calls. This should go without saying. The rest of us aren’t interested in hearing your conversation, fascinating though I'm sure your life is.
2. Hand write thank you notes. Somebody took the time---and spent their hard-earned money---- to pick out a present for you, or make you dinner, or help you out in other ways. And you can’t take the time to actually write them a letter, but instead spend one minute emailing them? I remember once getting an extremely expensive and rare wine for the brother of my boyfriend. Something the guy wanted, but could neither afford nor find himself. He send me a snide email note as a thank you! He thought he was being funny.
3. Put your phone away during meals. There is nothing sadder than watching two people at a table, not paying attention to the person near them but instead with their faces in their screens. I feel so sorry for people like that. They must really hate the person they’re with.
4. Be on time. When you are late, you are announcing to others, “My time is more important than yours”. It isn’t.
5. Ask permission to use someone’s first name. Never, ever address someone by their first name without being invited to do so. Always use the honourific until the person says, “Oh please, call me Ishmael”. It’s particularly offensive when younger people use an older person’s last name-----this happens in stores a lot after one hands over one’s credit card. The clerk thinks she is being friendly, but it makes older people cringe.
6. Reach out to people who are grieving. WRITE a letter------don’t send one of those loathsome “sympathy” cards. Don’t say, “If there’s anything I can do….” ….instead, do something. Bring a meal, help give rides to the airport….something. And if it’s a close friend, just be there, physically and spiritually.
7. Let other people off the elevator before you get on. I don’t know what makes this one so hard. Maybe because people have their faces in their phones?
8. Teach your kids manners and lead by example. For some reason this one seems to be hard too. Maybe because people are so concerned with their children being number 1? It’s much more important that they learn to operate cooperatively in society, and that means MANNERS. Manners and etiquette are NOT about which fork to use (though that's also a good life-skill). Manners and etiquette ARE ABOUT ACKNOWLEDGING OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD and cooperating so that the world is a better place to live.
9. Help someone who’s struggling. Pull that bag off the baggage carousel for the elderly man who is having a hard time doing so. Let the person with the cane ahead of you in the grocery line----it’s painful for her to stand.
10. Learn to say you’re sorry-----be the bigger person.
For some reason this last one seems to be the hardest of all for certain people.
2. Hand write thank you notes. Somebody took the time---and spent their hard-earned money---- to pick out a present for you, or make you dinner, or help you out in other ways. And you can’t take the time to actually write them a letter, but instead spend one minute emailing them? I remember once getting an extremely expensive and rare wine for the brother of my boyfriend. Something the guy wanted, but could neither afford nor find himself. He send me a snide email note as a thank you! He thought he was being funny.
3. Put your phone away during meals. There is nothing sadder than watching two people at a table, not paying attention to the person near them but instead with their faces in their screens. I feel so sorry for people like that. They must really hate the person they’re with.
4. Be on time. When you are late, you are announcing to others, “My time is more important than yours”. It isn’t.
5. Ask permission to use someone’s first name. Never, ever address someone by their first name without being invited to do so. Always use the honourific until the person says, “Oh please, call me Ishmael”. It’s particularly offensive when younger people use an older person’s last name-----this happens in stores a lot after one hands over one’s credit card. The clerk thinks she is being friendly, but it makes older people cringe.
6. Reach out to people who are grieving. WRITE a letter------don’t send one of those loathsome “sympathy” cards. Don’t say, “If there’s anything I can do….” ….instead, do something. Bring a meal, help give rides to the airport….something. And if it’s a close friend, just be there, physically and spiritually.
7. Let other people off the elevator before you get on. I don’t know what makes this one so hard. Maybe because people have their faces in their phones?
8. Teach your kids manners and lead by example. For some reason this one seems to be hard too. Maybe because people are so concerned with their children being number 1? It’s much more important that they learn to operate cooperatively in society, and that means MANNERS. Manners and etiquette are NOT about which fork to use (though that's also a good life-skill). Manners and etiquette ARE ABOUT ACKNOWLEDGING OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD and cooperating so that the world is a better place to live.
9. Help someone who’s struggling. Pull that bag off the baggage carousel for the elderly man who is having a hard time doing so. Let the person with the cane ahead of you in the grocery line----it’s painful for her to stand.
10. Learn to say you’re sorry-----be the bigger person.
For some reason this last one seems to be the hardest of all for certain people.