By: Maggie Flartey Kaminski, CEO, CRB
A friend, moving into an assisted living arrangement and clearing out his home of all kinds of stuff, gave me an old book, copyright in 1978 –The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette. It covers everything from home, weddings, funerals and business. Some of the business rules seem to apply to an office that runs like “Mad Men” and I doubt that many operate that way in the modern world. Things like “Be a Neat Smoker.”
But under the heading “some Office Do’s and Don’ts” I found some common sense items:
DO:
- Offer to do errands for others if you are going out
- Be creative in helping others in the office
- Send a handwritten note to the home of an associate who has received either good news or bad news.
- Do think of the night cleaners
- Keep the rest rooms neat and tidy
DON’T
- While on a business appointment, don’t stay too long. One should arrive on time
state one’s case and be gone.
- No one should chew gum in the office
- The constant muncher looks very jarring
- Don’t borrow colleagues things from their desk
- Don’t drop by another person’s desk to chat just because you are not busy at the moment. That person may be too polite to tell you he is meeting a deadline and must be left alone.
- Don’t read magazines at your desk if you are not busy. One can always pass free time learning more about company operations instead of finding out about the latest fashions.
A statement on letter writing was very poignant (remember this is 1978!): “We are not living in a world of letter writers, but rather of fast communicators, with no motivation to pursue the beauty of expression.” “There is nothing more pleasant than receiving a beautiful letter.”
And these comments on Christmas cards seems very meaningful to me:
“The only real card in the spirit of Christmas is one signed by hand or one with an engraved or printed name combined with a brief message.” And “When the sending of Christmas cards begins to take on gargantuan and impersonal proportions, the time has come to reconsider the entire project. If others notice you have stopped sending cards, they will probably cross you off their over-swollen lists with relief.”
Maggie Flartey Kaminski, CEO, CRB
Toll Free 877-646-7584 ext 31
CENTURY 21 Select Group
Blakeslee, PA; RM -419176
www.century21selectgroup.com
