I don’t know about you. I was raised knowing my “Yes, ma’am’s” and “Yes, sir’s”. I was taught how to set the table properly at a young age. I remember my mother speaking with pride about the fact that my sister and I could go anywhere, and dine anywhere and not be out of place. We knew how to behave and how to eat properly and how to be polite and if we didn’t have something nice to say or something that contributed to the conversation, we knew to keep quiet. I suspect we did a lot of keeping quiet. What can a 5 year-old contribute to a conversation with the Officers and their wives.
I was an Air Force child at a time when our military was still respected by our citizens. Being a child of an Officer meant you had to be a good kid.
Years later, after my family leaving the military and attending school in places like Oklahoma and California at a time when life was tending towards the more relaxed atmosphere, I found my manners and courtesies in bad need of dusting off.
Last year, at work, we had need for a new person in our department. The role is an admin assistant/Help Desk operator. My Manager interviewed and hired a very nice lady that has inadvertantly helped me to dust off my manners. As I hear it, she used her “Yes ma’am’s” and “Mister’s” and “Ms” in the interview. While we joked a bit about this afterwards, when she started work, we became a much more genteel department. I like this.
I work in an I.T. department. As consequence of society, reputation, and myth, many I.T. departments are not regarded with much admiration or as being particularly sophisticated in their behavior. As a result of our Assistant, we are probably the most polite I. T. Department.
And yet, we do have people within the group that while they play part of the role, they do lack the finer points to really allow them to stand out. Things like taking into account that the number of us in the one office causes a certain amount of crowding and things such as fragant foods can cause conflict or at least frustration. They lack the courtesy of visiting our users personally and checking on them or assisting with a problem.
While I find it interesting to observe the other people with regards to manners and behaviors. I find it even more interesting to observe myself. I find I have become more polite, even outside my work. I am definitely more polite and considerate at my job. I do much less barging into someone’s cube and much more knocking first. I find myself dropping some annoying habits and returning to the teachings of my childhood and I think it’s a great thing.
Cheers
Originally published at: suguayproductions.com/joomla which has been discontinued.
