OH, BEHAVE! Keeping Manners In Mind
by Annet King

Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Annet King, Director of Global Education for the Dermalogica brand, and for The International Dermal Institute.

I’ve been a professional skin care educator for 20 years, and I’ve worked with students and professional skin therapists around the world. One thing I know for certain is that first impressions are indeed lasting impressions, and being introduced properly to someone else is the best way to start things off on the right foot, both professionally and personally.

A proper and courteous introduction is the foundation to a comfortable social relationship. And that’s exactly what this new blog is all about: forming and maintaining mutually beneficial social relationships.

If you’re a client at a skin care center, a salon, or spa, you should never be accosted by the receptionist or other employee asking, “Are you my 4:00 o’clock?”. If this happens, you have every right to slowly lower your copy of whatever you’re reading, glower icily across the room, and say in measured tones, “Well, I’m not certain about your schedule. But my name is Mildred.”

The bloody, bloomin’ flippin’ nerve, really! I feel the same way when friends and I are shopping, or seated for a nice dinner, and a wait-person or other employee asks brightly, “How are you guys doing?”, as though we were all being hosed down in a communal shower-pit and might need more soap. Whatever happened to “Good afternoon,” or “Good evening, and welcome” ?

Yes, I am English, but that’s hardly the point. Do British people have better manners than Americans? In general, perhaps. But trust me, this is a learned skill.

In more formal times, people in polite society literally did not speak to one another socially until they had been properly introduced by a trusted associate. No need to go quite that far. But with so much talk these days of technology eroding our language and communication, I do feel that the very humanity of human interaction itself may be restored if we make more of an effort to be simply courteous to one another.

We cannot exactly demand good manners from others. We can only lead by example. Starting today.

Try out a “please” or a “thank you” where none has gone before. Instead of grunting the usual monosyllabic responses “Yup”, or “Nope”, try answering a question with a complete sentence, as in, “Yes, it is”, or “No, it is not.” This becomes habit-forming, and the next thing you know, you’re no longer a rude person.

In which case, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 9:30 am and is filed under guest blogger.