It's a new beginning...

Happy New Year to all who read this. Due to a family tragedy last September I have been lax in keeping up with my intent to write in this blog and to share my thoughts about the state of rudeness in our society. While the grieving process takes time, I am dedicated again to paying attention to it and writing more often.

Recently I decided to sign up for Google alerts for the words etiquette and business etiquette. I am heartened to see that the subject is written about every day and many times a day at that. Though a certain percentage of the articles and blog posts are about bathroom etiquette (it really must be bad out there), it is nice to see that the general printed media have taken it upon themselves to alert the public that etiquette is not only an interesting subject but one that sells papers. The growth of our "industry" of teaching manners and proper business methods has, in my opinion, stemmed from the increase in media coverage. If you read the word enough times, perhaps it may stick in your mind as a worthy consideration.

Another thought for today. How many of you received thank you notes for the gifts you gave to others during the holidays? Did you receive them by email? by text message? or by a handwritten note with an envelope and stamp? I sent a gift to a young cousin (age 24) last holiday which was never acknowleged by her. Instead her mother sent a handwritten note to me thanking me in her stead. Taken aback by the mother's gesture and wanting to see if anything was wrong, I called for a chat. I was informed that her daughter thought that she would say thank you to me the next time she saw me. (I haven't seen her since she was 12 and don't have any plans to visit the state where she lives) Funny that having an etiquette maven in the family doesn't encourage the impetus for good manners. Her mother on the other hand fully understands the need for acknowledgement of a gift and its good will. We have a lot of work to do!

Cell Phone Etiquette

I found a good article about research going on at the University of Texas focused on cell-phone etiquette. Here is the link so you too can read it.

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2006/02/20/editorial2?hbx=e_sw


If only research could convince the people I meet everyday who feel entitled to disturb everyone around them because their cell phone conversation is more important than the people who are standing or sitting in front of them.

I would love to hear what you think about cell phone etiquette.

Responding to Emails

On December 24th last year, my comments were included in an op-ed piece written by Jim Burns, an adjunct professor at the College of the Canyons published in the Pasadena Star-News. The subject of the piece was "Why don't I get responses to my emails?" E-rudeness (which was coined by Mr. Burns but applauded by me) seems to be prevalent in our society. My comments included: "We have eroded our person-to-person relationships. We don't need to sit in the same room to do business with each other....You can't see how someone is looking when we say what we say." Non verbal communication is lost when we type our interactions. The best we can hope for is that the email was spell-checked and is not written in all capital letters. We loose the ability to react emotionally to someone's body language or tone of voice which allows us to measure our response appropriately. What is tragic is that generations which came after my generation seem to have skipped the class on writing a letter. Many, particularly those who were born after 1970, just write words - the construction of their emails is loose and sometimes rambling, sometimes non-sensical. There is rarely a salutation - just the facts or a short question. The subject line rarely indicates what the body of the email is about so you have to use your best judgment whether it is spam or legitament. I am sure I have sent many emails to my junk folder due to subject lines with Hello on them. I sometimes receive responses to my emails a week or two later, when I have forgotten about the reason I wrote one in the first place. So here are a few suggestions: Answer your email within 24 hours unless you are away from your computer - then set up an auto responder that states to everyone who writes to you that you are unavailable and will be returning someday. When you write to someone on email, use the Subjest line to alert the reader about what you have written. I often write on my email subject lines, "response to your inquiry from The Lett Group" or something like that. At the top of the body of text, say hello by using the recipient's name such as, "Dear Mr. Smith: or Good morning, George:" or if you don't feel like being nice, at least put the recipient's name there - "Mike - In response to your email -". I will most likely want to "talk" about email more in later posts. I would love to hear from you about your pet-peeves regarding email from others.

Welcome Friends & Interested Parties

The Lett Group and Cynthia Lett welcome you to our blog. This is a compilation of my observations, pet peeves (I have a few and I am sure you probably do too), a little history on the subject, stories of situations I have encountered etiquette not being respected and kudos for others when they have done the right thing.

I will also be updating my readers about seminars up-coming on Managing Protocol Issues and Boardroom Polish (Business Etiquette & Entertaining for Professionals) as well as our Dining for the Savvy Professional programs.

From time to time we will have a sale on our videos and training programs just for our blog readers. Stay tuned for those.

I have two books coming out in the next couple of months and will share all of that information when they are ready to be purchased.

I won't be writing every day, but several times each week and whenever a situation warrants being shared. Check back often or add this blog to your newsfeeds to keep up - t0 -date.

In my next entry I will introduce myself more thoroughly for those reading who have not visited our websites www.lettgroup.com or our affiliated company, Self Presentations www.selfpresentations.com.

I hope you enjoy the content. Send to me your Pet Peeves about other's behavior and I will publish them here as well as on our website (under Pet Peeves).
Let me know if there is a subject or situation you would like to have me comment on.

I look forward to getting to know you and providing you with fun and interesting perspectives.