© McGun



I was talking to a friend the other day about a woman who works with us. I've never met her in person, but I remember the two very short conversations we had a few months ago. Why? Because she was so polite.

And not the fake, well rehearsed polite of a salesperson trying to seal the deal. No, a very natural and unaffected sense of nice.

It sounds fogy, but I really like old fashioned manners-without the "Oh my" and "kind sir" business.

Fortunately, civility is "in" again. All sorts of etiquette and manners workshops are cropping up, not just within companies, but as independent consulting businesses and within schools.

If being welcome everywhere you go doesn't motivate people into better manners, then maybe changing their bottom line will.

• Several recent studies conducted by Harvard University, Stanford Research Institute, and the Carnegie Foundation showed that 85% of our future success depends on social skills.

• In a 2003 study published by Public Agenda, 43 percent of teachers in public schools said they spend more time dealing with bad behavioral than they do teaching.

Being rude costs.