Old fashioned courtesies was the topic of my last session with Josh Szeps on ABC702.  Topics such as a man holding a chair out for a lady when she sits down, opening a door for a lady and standing on the outside of the footpath when walking with a lady.

The session attracted many phone calls and SMS’s.  Most people agreed that these courtesies are very nice even in today’s society. Just one lady rang in and said that she is equal to her husband in everything they do and there is no place in their marriage for these old fashioned courtesies.

Another point I raised is that it is polite for a man to stand up if a lady leaves the table and then again to stand when she returns. Josh asked whether all the men at the table should stand or only her partner. It is polite for all the men to stand.

I said that it is also appropriate for a lady to hold a door open for a man if he is carrying papers or parcels. Once thing we all did agree on was that it is very rude to just let a for close behind you without looking to see if someone is coming. In this case it is polite to hold the door open for that person – irrespective of whether it is a man or woman.

I pointed out that in business, men and women are equal so it is not appropriate for a man to do these old fashioned courtesies in business.

Overall it was a very interesting topic with a lot of people ringing in with comments and others SMS’ing with their comments.

Josh said that it was so successful we will need to re-visit this topic again sometime in the future.