The Top 10 Most Important Manners in Life

I have been told I am sometimes too sensitive. My feelings get hurt too easily and I should learn to be thick skinned. I am who I am. I doubt I will change this late in life. It does seem to me most of the hurt feelings I have felt have come from another's lack of manners. In my reasoning, bad manners results in bad behavior and being insensitive to another's feelings.

I have 10 rules of good manners and I am fairly certain if practiced, the World would be a better place.

Here are my Top 10 Manner Musts:

Number 10: Good manners should be practiced everywhere but especially on the telephone. When answering your telephone it IS NOT "yeah what do you want?" and especially do not answer a business telephone in this manner-it is not good manners. I once owned my own business. I hired high school and college-aged kids. To my horror, most of them did not know how to answer a business telephone! I had to do a class about the proper way to answer a business phone (as well as how to take messages). I had one high school employee who would answer " Yeah what you want?" I had to instruct him to say "Thank you for calling ABC shop, this is Darius how may I help you?" (Yes proper grammar goes with good manners too-it is "may" not "can").

Equally offensive is when you call a business and ask for someone in particular and get the rude "who's calling, what do you want?"...wow! I was calling my attorney to tell him I was sending him a FAT check but on second thought never mind! I just love it too, when I call a business and in the middle of giving them the reason for calling the answering party says "hold on!" and you are sent to muzack hell with intermittent messages of "your call is very important to us, blah blah blah" Ditto for friends who slam me into hold mode because their call waiting shows someone else calling. The message is clear: someone else is apparently more important.

My parents would not allow me to answer a telephone until I reached an age where I could do it properly. I know some parents of toddlers find it cute to let little Chloe answer the phone but seriously, the calling party does not think it so cute especially when little Chloe hangs up on you! Oh well, guess you will never know you won the free grocery drawing at the market!

Number 9: Exiting an elevator or store. PEOPLE LISTEN UP the exiting party has the right of way. You are not going to be able to enter an elevator that is full until you allow the occupants to EXIT!! This seems a no brainer but so many times I have been the exiting party and have to tell the idiot person trying to enter the elevator "Excuse me may I get by you?". This was extremely difficult when I had small children in strollers. Same principle applies when exiting any building LET THE EXITING PARTY EXIT FIRST BEFORE YOU TRY TO ENTER! This is an important rule to live by not only for a civilized World but for safety reasons. If both of you try to exit and enter at the same time, sooner or later you will collided with each other and someone will get hurt.

Number 8: Don't be a buttinski. If you are at the store and the sales representative is helping another customer DO NOT butt in with your question or need for assistance. Wait your freaking turn! You would think anyone past the age of...oh I don't know...6 years would know the rule about waiting for your turn. Didn't we all learn this principle in preschool? I absolutely hate it when I am in the middle of explaining to a store clerk what I am looking for and having his/her undivided attention when Ms. Allaboutme runs up and distracts the clerk. I am put in the position of having to wait until Ms. Allaboutme is helped. Then I have to start all over with the store clerk. When this has happened in the past, I have walked out. One lost customer for the store. Too bad.

Number 7: Don't cut in line. Save a life, don't cut. Does it really need to be said? People who are waiting in line at Disneyland for the Matterhorn for an hour don't take kindly to you inserting your self to the front of the line just as they are about to step into the cart! Do that to a crowd whose been in line all night the day after Christmas at Walmart and you run the risk of being smacked down by an angry mob.

Number 6: Close your mouth when you are eating. Seriously. I hate to say this, but I have two really good friends who married men that this manner seems lost on. These men chew so loudly and with their mouths open that no one at the dinner table can hear any conversation. I should add to this rule good eating manners are a must. Don't start eating until everyone is seated.

Number 5: Thank you, Please, You are Welcomed. Just a few words people should learn and use on a regular bases many times a day. You may not believe this but in my life I have been the finder of things of value. I have found a 2 caret diamond ring, a wallet with $100 bucks, $40 left in an ATM, a gold watch , a couple of cell phones; and I found the owners of these things. Not one said "Thank you" after I spent time meeting up with them to return their lost items. In one case, the lost wallet owner did not even know his wallet was missing. He had just left a friend's house and the wallet had fallen on the sidewalk. I came by about five minutes after he left and found it laying on the sidewalk. Some minor investigation lead me to Mr. Wallet owner who had the nerve to ask if I could drive several miles to his home and "drop it off" of course I didn't. He eventually drove to my house, called me when he was outside and I returned his wallet to him. He drove off, no thanks given. But...I would still do the same thing because I have good manners.

Number 4: Give credit where credit is due. Do not take credit for another's work or idea. This one is especially important in work situations. Honesty is valuable in business and your personal life.

Number 3: Don't berate your servers at the restaurant, store clerks, or anyone who is providing a service to you. It's just a bad idea. I have had the same hair stylist for the last 17 years. I would never treat her badly. Always be nice to anyone holding scissors in their hands or putting dye on your hair. Trust me on this one.

Number 2: Parking spaces especially during business times. If you are going down an aisle in a parking lot and you spot a parking place to your right it is yours if you can make a right turn into it. If you are coming the other direction and have to make a left in front of another car coming down the same aisle opposite of you, the space IS NOT yours. You cannot make a left turn in front of someone in order to get to the space first. The oncoming car has the right of way! And, please oh please do not cuss out the driver who was in the right when she points out to you what a selfish creep you are, yeah I'm talking to you lady in the BMW with the German accent! She actually went down the aisle the wrong way, cut me off and stole a space I was in the process of turning into!! Rude, rude and more rude!!

Last but not least, the most IMPORTANT rule of manners...drum roll....

Number 1: Turn off your freaking cell phone when at the movies, museum, high end restaurant, theater, on the tram ride at Universal Studios, in the office, or anywhere people are trying to listen to someone else and not you droning on and on about your diarrhea. Same when it comes to checking out at the market and the rest of us are trapped behind you waiting for you to unload your shopping cart. We are all waiting...but you continue to go on and on while the checker and the rest of us wait until you focus on the task at hand. Please for God's sake, put the phone down, unload your cart, check out and leave the rest of us to go on with our lives. Thank you very much.

I have a few other ones that did not make my Top 10 like don't ask me how much my house costs, how much money I make or what I weigh.

I truly believe if everyone used my Top 10 manners rules as a guide to behavior the World would know peace....yeah right, who am I fooling?