{"id":4083,"date":"2013-08-30T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=4083"},"modified":"2018-08-15T22:21:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T02:21:06","slug":"part-iii-general-etiquette-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2013\/08\/30\/part-iii-general-etiquette-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Part III: General Etiquette Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flautd.com\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/Etiquette.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4110 alignright\" alt=\"Etiquette\" src=\"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Etiquette-300x300.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Etiquette-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Etiquette-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Etiquette-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Etiquette-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Etiquette.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>This is Part III of \u201cBusiness Etiquette FUN-damentals,\u201d a three-part series for Progressions.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>If you have followed my previous two posts (<a href=\"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2013\/05\/14\/business-etiquette-fun-damentals\/\">Part I <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2013\/07\/25\/part-ii-another-chicken-dinner-10-etiquette-tips-at-the-table\/\">Part II<\/a>) about Business Etiquette, you know that etiquette is really grounded in the essence of making others feel comfortable. I have listed some general business\/event questions that might arise at your workplace or during a social gathering.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><b>General Etiquette Tips<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Holding the door<\/b>: Whoever reaches the door first holds the door for others. (This is quite a change from several years ago.) There are still many who feel the man always holds the door for the lady. Ladies, if you see a gentleman reach for the door, let him and say, \u201cThank you.\u201d Now, no one has to feel uncomfortable when approaching a door.<\/li>\n<li><b>Entering and exiting an elevator:<\/b> The person who reaches the elevator first or is closest to the door, regardless of gender, enters or exits an elevator first. However, this can be similar to the \u201cholding the door\u201d scenario mentioned above \u2013 just exit the elevator graciously.<\/li>\n<li><b>Picking up the tab for a meal \u2013 business occasion:<\/b> Generally, the person who initiated the invitation to dine is the one who pays. If it won\u2019t embarrass your dining partner(s), it is nice to offer to help with the check. If you are treating a client to a meal, arrange with your waiter or restaurant to have the check brought to you so there is no after-meal hassle or hesitation. P.S. No doggie bags at business lunches!<\/li>\n<li><b>Picking up the tab for a meal \u2013 casual gathering:<\/b> In more casual dining (colleagues getting together frequently), paying is usually cleared up easily with frank conversation before the meal: &#8220;Let&#8217;s go Dutch.&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;ll get the check this time, you get it next.&#8221; &#8220;Is everyone ok with separate checks?&#8221; Clear this up before anyone orders, and make sure the restaurant is able to provide you with separate checks. Doggie bags are OK for casual meal with friends\/co-workers.<\/li>\n<li><b>Dress etiquette (for men and women): <\/b>At work, ask colleagues, the human resources department or your boss what is meant by business dress or \u201cbusiness casual,\u201d \u201ccorporate casual,\u201d \u201csmart casual,\u201d or \u201cresort casual.\u201d If you are asked to plan an event, make sure you are very clear what the dress code is for the guests. Don\u2019t leave folks uncertain or uneasy about what they should wear. Definitions of each style vary widely from corporation to corporation or from person to person.<\/li>\n<li><b>Food stuck in teeth or lipstick on teeth: <\/b>Should you tell your boss or the CEO that she\/he has spinach stuck in her\/his teeth? Yes, privately and discreetly. \u201cI thought you would like to know you have spinach stuck in your teeth on the right side.\u201d Do not belabor the point. Would you like someone to tell you? Of course.<\/li>\n<li><b>Party etiquette or special occasion with co-workers: <\/b>Act with dignity and respect. This does not mean you cannot have a great time. It does mean you should do nothing that would make you memorable\/the topic of conversation for years. Crazy, drunken, juvenile behavior can quickly become the \u201cstuff\u201d of which office legend and lore is made. In addition, none of it should be mentioned on any social media site.<\/li>\n<li><b>The mnemonic BMW and food placement on the table: <\/b>I love this hint from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/business-etiquette-you-need-to-know-2013-7?op=1#ixzz2brxthGhh\">Business Insider<\/a> about where your food and water glass is placed. BMW stands for &#8220;bread, meal, and water,&#8221; so remember that &#8220;your bread-and-butter plate is on the left, the meal is in the middle, and your water glass is on the right.\u201d When placing eating utensils, \u201cyour fork\u00a0(four\u00a0letters) goes to the\u00a0left (four letters); your\u00a0knife\u00a0and\u00a0spoon\u00a0(five letters each)\u00a0go to the\u00a0right (five letters).\u201d<\/li>\n<li><b>Placing flags on a stage<\/b>: A random &#8220;rule&#8221; that may impact a meeting you&#8217;re organizing (and because I had to know this recently): When displaying flags at business, civic, or social events, the American flag is placed on the <i>speaker&#8217;s<\/i> right. State and organizations&#8217; flags are placed on the speaker&#8217;s left.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope these tips help you maintain your poise and increase your confidence whether at you\u2019re doing business or relaxing after hours. Happy, gracious living.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><b>Are there any important general etiquette tips that I missed? Add them in the comments below.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Geri A. Evans, APR is President\/CEO of Evans PR Group. She is a member of the PRSA National Board and is a PRSA Board Liaison to PRSSA. Find her on Twitter at <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Gevans22\"><i>@gevans22<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is Part III of \u201cBusiness Etiquette FUN-damentals,\u201d a three-part series for Progressions.\u00a0 If you have followed my previous two posts (Part I and Part II) about Business Etiquette, you know that etiquette is really grounded in the essence of making others feel comfortable. I have listed some general business\/event questions that might arise at your workplace or during a [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1530,502,2217,15],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9047,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/9047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}