- Be Friendly and Polite
Be friendly and smile. The smile has potential to lift the mood of not only the person you’re looking at but yours as well. Offer a greeting and you might even see an extra ray of sunshine.
Certain words carry a tremendous amount of power when you care enough to be polite and civil to others. Add “please,” “thank you,” “you’re welcome,” and “excuse me” to your vocabulary and you may find others responding with reciprocated kindness.
- Be On Time
Avoid being late for an appointment with anyone, whether it’s your doctor or your child. Being on time shows your respect for the other person.
- Help and Care
Whenever you can offer help to your fellow citizen and show care. If you see someone whose arms are overloaded with packages, open the door. Also, if you have just entered a building and someone is right behind you, hold the door to keep it from slamming in his or her face.
- Respect Others
It is of essence to respect other people. Allow others to voice their opinions without argument. Respect their personal space as you would want others to respect yours. The old saying “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything” is wise and should be followed in most social situations.
- Let Others Go First
It is recommended you let others go first while walking, standing in line, and driving. A woman with small children will appreciate getting through the checkout lane quickly; if a driver needs to move into your lane, and you can let him in without the person behind you rear-ending you, then gesture for him to go ahead. If an old person stands up in a bus or trolley, the advice would be to stand up, greet him or her and give up your chair so that the person can sit.
- Let others serve first
If you are waiting in a line at a restaurant to collect your meal, an open buffet or at any circumstances similar – we would advise you to let others serve first. The same applies at the shared dinner table; you let the others serve the food first and you serve yourself after.
- Speak softly and keep volume low
Keep your cell phone ringer volume as low as possible. In any social circumstance you are in be considerate by keeping your voice low while chatting on the phone.
- Eat Politely
Either formal or informal, everyone appreciates good table manners. Keep your elbows off the table, don’t talk with your mouth full, and avoid reaching across people to take salt and pepper. Formal dinners have more etiquette rules, so if you’ll be going to one of those, take a little time to brush up on what’s expected.
- Send a Thank You Note
Being thankful will never go out of style. When someone does something for you, or sends you a gift, thank the person with a handwritten note. It’s the least you can do for a person who has taken the time to think of you.
- Introduce People
When you are the only person who knows the other parties, take the time to introduce them and if you’re in a social setting, find something the people have in common. For example, you might say, “Mary is a good friend of mine and she loves art. Since you recently purchased that wonderful piece of art, I thought you might enjoy talking about it.”
