Tuesday, July 3, 2007

You can take the girl off the farm, but you can't take the farm off the girl

Some things I still can't get used to here...like the men ALWAYS letting the women on and off the elevator first and holding open doors, common courtesies that I haven't encountered for a long time. Well, I think they're still common courtesies. Maybe "common" is not so true anymore. At my last place of employment, the "clientelle" was mostly poor and uneducated. Now, they probably just didn't know any better, but they would just as soon let the elevator door shut on your arm as look at you, and I cannot tell you how many times I was pushed out of the way trying to get OFF the elevator so they could get ON. And the doctors were so full of their self-importance that of course they did not have time to hold the door (elevator or otherwise) open for someone who was insignificant in their grand scheme of things. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but they were few and far between. As I have mentioned before, I was at that job for almost 14 years, so I guess I just got used to rude. Here, it is always a pleasant surprise to be let ahead with a sweeping arm gesture, or have the elevator door held open for you. But I'm afraid that having been in that "other" envirnment for so long, I may have forgotten some of the "niceties" that accompany a courteous workplace, so I'm constantly worried about commiting a social faux-pas. Here's hoping when I do it's not a big one!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and I still am uncomfortable about wearing a hat when dining in restaurants.

Anonymous said...

Remember...the magic words "please" and "thank you" ALWAYS go a long way!!!! After that any "faux-pax" is forgivable.

Hannah said...

Raise those expectations daw'lin, you deserve it!!