Monthly Archives: February 2017

Monday Morning Quote:

“When it comes to the way you present yourself online, the acid test is: Can you imagine Grace Kelly doing it? If you can picture her saying “Dem hos betta watch out imma beat some ass tonite”, then congratulations, you have a much better imagination than mine. Likewise, if you can’t quite see her posting a snapshot of herself drunkenly pole-dancing, think twice about broadcasting those pictures to the world.”

-Rosie Blythe

 

Bwahahahaha!  Okay, this is absolutely laugh out loud funny.  I love LOVE Grace Kelly (and if you don’t know who that is, google it STAT, or better yet, check out To Catch a Thief, or Rear Window, or The Country Girl, or really ANY of her movies. Etiquette and Cinema History in one neat package.  I aim to please.)  Grace Kelly is the pinnacle of glamour, and the best of 1950s Dior beauty, and class and, well, grace.  Picturing her pole dancing would be like…Ray Croc coming out as a vegan.  And no offense to pole dancers.

 

Monday Manners Quote:

“Lord Chesterfield advises his son “to speak often, but not to speak much at a time; so that if he does not please, he will not at least displease to any great extent.”
Rousseau tells us, that, “persons who know little, talk a great deal, while those who know a great deal say very little.”

-Arthur Martine

A PRIMcess misstep

 

 

Hello gentle reader,

You might think that, because I write about etiquette and manners, I am above making mistakes that might revolve around those two subjects.

Not so much.

Part of manners is recognizing tone.  Tone can change the whole meaning of a message.

My example.  I have a podcast I listen to religiously. It has a current events/sports bend, and last week the host told a story about being hung up on by his local gas company.   As it happens, I used to work in a call center when I was a starving student, and have some funny stories from the “other side” as it were.

So I sent an email, my first ever, to this podcast, brief and witty, sharing my experiences.  And joy of joys, it got read “on air”–super thrilling!!!

But in reality, it was MORTIFYING!  The funny anecdotes about my call center days came off, in someone else’s voice, as shockingly vindictive.  Ack!!!  I went back and listened again.  Am I being sensitive?  Am I imagining things?  No, my tone, instead of being inclusive “I’ve been there with you from the other side” came off as something completely, negatively, different.

I listened a third time, this time with an ear of what I should have written.  Then went back to the email in my Send folder.  Literally, three different words, in three different sentences, would have changed the tone of my communication to what I truly meant.

A live and learn moment.  And a lesson that manners is not just in the actions, but sometimes in the minutia.