"Excuse Me, But I Was Next...." CD: How to Handle the Top 100 Manners Dilemmas
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"Excuse Me, But I Was Next...." CD: How to Handle the Top 100 Manners Dilemmas Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Surprisingly engaging, if you please!
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I selected this book on a lark, fully expecting my interest to wane somewhere around page 25. Surprisingly, I not only finished the book but recommended it to a friend.
The book covers 100 etiquette dilemmas that turn up in everyday life. Everything from what constitutes black tie and white tie down to whether an e-mail thank you is ever appropriate. Others topics include what is reasonable to expect on a toddler play date, whether to invite siblings to a children's birthday party, how to set a proper formal table and what to tip your nanny. Also, whether black and white are appropriate colors at weddings and whether bright colors can be worn at funerals.
The tone of the book is far from the censorious or supercilious tone one might expect from an etiquette manual. To Peggy Post, etiquette is used to make others feel comfortable and to prevent hurt feelings that can ruin a group's ability to enjoy itself. Etiquette is not meant as a sieve by which one artificially separates class from trash. It is primarily aimed at considering the feelings of others. It is not about enforcing class distinctions, moral codes or gender or age norms. The right person to open a door is whoever gets there first. It is perfectly fine for women to offer to assist men who are struggling under a load of packages. And so on.
Post even tackles "moralish" questions about whether to say grace at a dinner party and whether to follow along with the religious practices of another faith at weddings or funerals. The message is clearly to be oneself in a way that does not insult the other party. Post also breaks some new ground in the contentious areas of whether to wear white after Labor Day. But you'll have to read the book to get that scoop.
Peggy Post's book is delightful, urbane, gracious and charming -- not at all stuck up. It is full of wonderful examples that model proper responses to uncomfortable situations. Wait till you hear her response to a person asking nosy questions about an adopted child! Her response was perfectly clear, it set boundaries, but did so without a trace of cruelty. Just what you'd expect from a book on proper behavior.
I particularly enjoyed Susan Bennett's narration. She gave voice to the firm-yet-fun voice of Peggy Post without sounding smug or superior. |
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