What are some key points on manners?

Answer 1

Always ensure your fingernails are clean.

Always ensure your shoes are shined.

Address your elders as Mr, Mrs, or Miss, unless otherwise invited to do otherwise.

Always open the car door for your date and extend your hand to assist them.

Whenever you receive a gift, send a hand-written letter of thanks - never email!

Keep your elbows and arms off the dinner table when eating.

Never arrive to an invited private dinner without bringing a small gift.

Keep your mouth closed when you chew food.

If your host has prepared a meal for you, ALWAYS compliment it, even if you don't like it. Never cause your host embarrassment by saying you don't like something.

Should you have any specific dietary requirements, when you're invited, please let your host know immediately and enquire whether it might cause any difficulty for them? This is far more polite than announcing you're a vegetarian or suffer Allergies upon arrival.

If being placed at a large table of strangers, such as on a cruise ship, it can be a wonderful gesture to offer to buy a bottle of wine for the table. Rest assured, the gesture will be returned, but you will always be remembered as the one with the best manners.

If you're on a first date, ALWAYS tell your date how lovely they look!

If you're female and you know your date is the same height, or shorter than you are, don't compound the subject by wearing high heels.

Always ask gentle questions when with strangers. Many people can be offended by direct questions.

Never discuss politics or sensitive emotive issues among people you do not know.

When presented with a bowl of soup, dip your soup spoon into the bowl and gently scoop the liquid away from you, rather than towards yourself. It prevents possible splashing of the person next to you and shows you're a gentleman/gentlewoman.

Regardless of where you live and how progressive a culture you may represent, it's always polite to hold a door for the next person entering a building.

When walking with a female in a city, men should always walk on the kerbside of the road. In the past, it was to protect the lady from being splashed by horses and coaches passing. Today, it's still to protect from the possibility of her being splashed, but now it's more from idiots throwing liquids out of their cars, or possible puddles on the road edge.

When shaking hands, always offer a firm, but not hard grip. Never offer a hand that's equivalent to a wet fish.

If you've just interviewed for a new job position, always write the person who interviewed you, to thank them for the opportunity. Some professional companies actually wait to receive such letters, which demonstrates your professionalism. Failure of the letter to arrive results in your being passed over.

Ladies always come first. Full Stop.

If you receive a written letter from someone who uses their title in their communication, always address them by their title, never by their first name.

Foul language is foul. Full Stop,

Gentlemen should always carry a clean and ironed handkerchief.

Check your breath. Always.

When phoning someone, whether professionally, or personally, always introduce yourself first, don't make someone ask who it is that's calling.

Even if service is included in a restaurant bill, it's a polite gesture to add a small amount, which ensures it goes directly to your server. Most restaurants and particularly hotels that provide room service, add fees and gratuities. However, the amount is divided among the hotel and a range of staff.

If you've stayed overnight in a hotel room, consider the housekeeper who will have to clean the room. Have you made a mess you would not have made in your own home? If so, always leave an amount of money to show you're a person of class and not a class of person.

Men should never enter a church wearing a hat. Men should always wear a yarmulke when entering a synagogue. Entering a mosque as a visitor, always remove your shoes.

Even if it's not your national anthem, it's always good manners to stand out of respect to others, should they stand for their national anthem.

Answer 2

Chew with your mouth closed.

Elbows off the table.

say "please" and "thank you"