On Manners

Please use them. 

You represent the King of Kings.  Mind your manners.  Be polite.  It is never right to be rude.

Here are a few to keep in mind:

• Take your hat off inside, unless you are a lady, although even ladies should not wear “men’s hats” (like ball caps) indoors.
• Be on time for your appointments or call to let the person know that you are delayed.
• Stand up when someone enters the room or approaches a table.
• Do not extend your hand to shake a lady’s hand unless she does so first.
• Wash your hands (often).
• Use a tissue or a handkerchief when you sneeze—not your hand or your elbow.
• Put your napkin in your lap.
• Wait until everyone is served before you begin eating.
• Cut your sandwich in half before you eat it.
• Only cut one bite of meat at a time.
• Don’t lick your knife or use it to corral wandering peas.
• No double dipping.
• Place your knife across the top of your plate when not in use; do not make a bridge with it from the table to your plate.
• Keep one hand in your lap when eating unless it is being used for cutting or holding food.
• Chew with your mouth closed.
• No elbows on the table—it’s not a horsey stable!  (Remember that from camp?)
• Don’t push your plate away from you when you are finished eating.
• Don’t call people names or use vulgarities.
• Knock and wait for an invitation to proceed before entering a doorway.
• Wait until the other person has finished speaking before speaking.
• Refrain from using the first name of someone more than a generation older than you until invited.
• Don’t point.
• Return phone calls the day you receive them.
• Say “please” and “thank-you.”
• Don’t be the last to leave a party.
• Write thank you notes.
• Don’t pass gas of any kind in public.
• Except for your children in private, never correct someone else’s manners.

Remember, manners are what separate us from the beasts!

    For Further Reading:  Miss Manners Rescues Western Civilization, Judith Martin or “The World’s Oldest Virtue,” Judith Martin, First Things, May 1993