I conducted a little experiment over the holidays. My daughter and I were at a ballet performance and were sitting at the very end of a row. For people to get to their seats, they had to go past us. I was silently counting in my head how many people said "excuse me" to my daughter or I as they made their way in and out of their seats. Let's just say I could count on one hand. I wonder sometimes if being polite are manners some people need to relearn. One thing I have taught my kids from a very young age is to say please and thank you. I don't have too many pet peeves, but one of them is when I hold the door open for someone and they kind of blow past me without a nod of the head, a smile or a thank you! I'm so tempted to say, "you're welcome!" and at times I have. I don't hold open doors because I'm requiring a thank you, but it would be nice to at least be acknowledged. At my local library a few months ago, I held the door open for a lady coming and going, she gave no acknowledgement whatsoever that I did it once, much less twice!!! When I go anywhere, a restaurant, grocery store, wherever, I always say please and thank you to people that wait on me. My manners were drilled into me when I was growing up. We were taught to say please and thank you and to respect your elders. When eating, keep your elbows off the table and your napkin in your lap. One of my favorite columns to read in the paper is "Miss Manners." She dispenses advice to people on how to handle etiquette "issues." That column makes for some pretty good reading. In my opinion, good manners don't come naturally, they have to be taught!
We are heading towards 600 orders for Dominic's business. Since our long-term goal for Baked Goods By Dominic is having a "brick-and-mortar" and hire those with disabilities, it is essential and imperative that I continue to teach him all parts of the business. Since I prompted Dominic for so many years for speech, he has become "prompt dependent." What that essentially means is that he will look at me for a prompt, like, "what do you do next?" I do that one a lot. Dominic has been going to a private speech therapist for over ten years and she reminds me often that Dominic usually will know the answer, if I am patient and wait for him. That has been a very hard habit to break! Dominic has an incredible memory, so I put it to the test this morning. I didn't write out the steps, I wanted to see how much he could do completely on his own. We have a customer picking up his order today, but the only thing that had been done is putting the cookies into t...
Comments
Post a Comment