Why
do we need Corporate Etiquette, Office Etiquette, Dining Diplomacy,
International Etiquette and Teenage Etiquette ?
“A person should be allowed a few redeeming vices,
but never bad manners.” Mark Twain.
This statement is as true today as it was in the days of
Mark Twain. Etiquette is used or abused in every interaction
in our daily lives. On the Freeways; we are ruthlessly cut
off by drivers who feel their schedules are more important
than ours. In the Grocery Store Check Out Line; we are doomed
to listen to feckless cell phone abusers, who share the most
intimate details of their personal lives. Courtesy and thoughtfulness
have become endangered practices! Note the look of surprise
on the face of anyone who is the recipient of some courteous
person holding the door for them. Sadly, there was a time
when that form of courtesy was the norm, not the exception!
Before the cultural revolution of the sixties, etiquette
played a positive role in peoples' lives. In those days, people
lived and worked in close-knit communities. To survive and
be successful in these communities, it was necessary to have
a social blueprint on how to get along with neighbors and
acquaintances. However, there was also a negative aspect to
etiquette, to the extent that it was used as a means of class
distinction and ethnic exclusion. This negative perception
caused it to be shunned by the new revolutionaries, who considered
it too pro establishment and anti-equality.
In the early eighties, Letitia Baldridge, who was the Chief
of Staff for Jacqueline Kennedy, wrote many books on the New
etiquette, both in social and business occasions. These books
were invaluable in bringing the importance of etiquette back
to the fore. Ms. Baldridge gave us the revised etiquette blueprint,
on how to handle any situation with grace and poise, in the
new world of equality of the sexes, classes and races. The
emphasis is on the true meaning of etiquette which is kindness.
The good news is, that anyone can learn the accepted codes
of etiquette and protocol.
Along with the foregoing benefits, it gives us the confidence
to know that we can handle any business or social situation
with professionalism.
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