Etiquette Friday – Remember Your Ps & Qs

It’s Friday and the day I request you join me in my campaign for 2012 to change “Casual Friday” to “Etiquette Friday”, to get people and companies involved. If we consciously make an effort every Friday then hopefully it will become a habit every day. I challenge you to make one small change a week and by the end of the year let’s hope we have a more pleasant and positive society.

Please and Thank You

Not enough people seem to know or remember their Ps & Qs. Yet it can bring a smile to ones face when you receive it as you feel you have been acknowledged and appreciated. Both terms are polite ways of showing someone that you appreciate something they’ve done for you. By using the words you can often get a better service, a favour done that somene may not have wanted to do and generally be thought of as a better person. Please and thank you are regarded as very important words when being polite and having good manners and etiquette. When you want something from someone you say please and when someone has done something for you say thank you.

Children

It is important to say please and thank you in front of children so that they hear it and learn to use the words. It is then important to praise  children when they are polite and to correct them when they’re not.  When parents spend time teaching their children to have good manners and to be polite children are noticed in a positive way and it reflects that their parents are  well mannered as well. The more parents are polite, the more children will follow.

Common courtesies and small gestures such as allowing someone to get off the bus before you or holding a door open can make a difference. Acknowledging people with a smile, using please when you request something and then thank you when receiving help can make the other person feel good as well as yourself.

Please and thank you are used in all languages throughout the world.