Good manners in today’s world are so important. No matter whether it is in business, politics, sport or in our social lives, respect goes a long way. With United and many airlines being under the pump it’s more important than ever to educate each other on how to treat people with respect.

Politicians need to be made aware of their appalling behaviour at times in the House. Shouting above each other, interjecting, speaking badly of their fellow politicians.

All this makes for very bad behaviour. They are our leaders and yet at times they behave worse than the naughtiest children.

Business World
If you are in the business world, good manners and etiquette are important in all aspects of your daily life. Some of the things you need to know are: how to treat your employees with respect, how to dress correctly for business, how to network effectively and the etiquette around modern technology such as mobile phones and emails.

When doing business with people from other countries and cultures it is important to know some basic information. The minimum you should know is the country’s correct name, the name of the political leader and the form of governance, the nation’s capital, the predominant religion, any dietary restrictions they have, the country’s main exports and industries, famous people who were born in that country and popular sports.

Good etiquette is important in every interaction in your social life. It is so off putting to dine with someone who does not have good table manners. Sue Fox in Etiquette For Dummies says: “Dining is one common area where rough edges show.” If it is a business lunch to be successful in the business, “Your business dining skills during a business lunch must be on par with your professional skills” says Lyudmila Bloch of Etiquette Outreach, New York. A friend told me he recently was at a restaurant but he could hardly hear the people he was with because the people at the next table were talking and laughing so loudly. This is such bad manners.

Phone Etiquette

Have you ever been to a funeral when a mobile phone has started ringing and worse still, have you heard a person answer it?

Mobile phones are a wonderful invention but how often do you see people use them inappropriately? They talk so loudly everyone around them can hear, they use them when at a café or restaurant with other people not to mention when they are in a shop buying something.

Plane Etiquette

Flying often brings out the worst in people. “The world is full of idiots and it certainly feels like that when you’re stuck in close confines with a few hundred of your fellow human beings for 14 hours” says Lee Tulloch in traveller.com. It can be a tense time, but that is still no excuse for poor behaviour.

Reclining your seat to the annoyance of the passenger behind you rates as one of the most annoying habits. Another area that causes problems are the arm rests: the rule here is, the person in the middle seat has the use of the arm rests. If there are two middle seats, they need to share the arm rest that is between them.
These are just some of the areas in which good manners are part of our everyday life.

If you would like to know more or take a course, please contact us.