Manners, Manners Everywhere
Last Thursday afternoon, I spent several hours sharing an Amtrak club car table with another passenger, who, like me, was trying to tackle work on the long trek from Washington D.C. to NYC. Inevitably we introduced ourselves, and before long, my fellow commuter knew that I deliver all sorts of business etiquette programs around the country AND that I had been born in the Midwest.
“That explains it,” he said. “Manners are so important in the Midwest.”
It’s a statement I know to be absolutely true. Having been born and reared in Kansas City, I grew up knowing that “please” and “thank you” were more than mere words. They were the magic keys that could open doors. They helped to establish that you were no ruffian, but instead, someone who belonged in polite society.
In the years since I’ve left the Midwest, I’ve enjoyed discovering good manners all over the place. God bless them, the men of the South still stand when a lady approaches the table. A California couple I know still makes an effort to create the most hospitable setting possible during weekly Friday night cocktails—light hors d’oeuvres, embroidered cocktail napkins, lovely tipples shaken and stirred. I even encounter amazing displays of politeness in New York City. Just last week, after I disembarked from my Amtrak train and navigated the subway system home, a gentleman offered me a seat and then offered to serve as my personal blocker when we finally reached the 77th Street Station.
Long ago, someone famously said, “manners maketh man.” Today, let’s agree that manners make life livable if not more perfect.
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