by Shannon Hilson

Created on: February 05, 2008

From an early age, my mother made a conscious effort to see to it that I grew up to be an exceptionally well-mannered young lady. She was constantly telling me how important good manners and polite social graces were and assuring me that even though I thought they were silly at the time, one day I would see she was right and come to appreciate all the good habits that I had been taught.

Of course, I naturally DID doubt it at the time. Like a lot of people, young people especially, I thought that good manners and etiquette were stuffy, outdated, and virtually useless concepts in today's society. After all, no one I knew seemed to follow any of these rules my mother assured me were so important, yet they seemed to be getting along in life just fine. However, I had a lot of respect for my mother, so I always did as I was taught, even if I did so with plenty of moaning and groaning.

It wasn't until I was older and got some perspective that I really began to see how right my mother was about manners. Eventually I became consciously aware that I got better service in shops and restaurants than my friends did. This was because I always said "please" and "thank you", treating the staff with courtesy and warmth, while my friends were typically demanding and sometimes even a little rude.

When I eventually wound up with a job in sales myself, I was the staff member with the most loyal customers, and it wasn't because I was the one with the sharpest sales pitch. It was because I was the one that treated people with the most respect, often even taking the time to send out personalized notes to regulars, thanking them for their business. I was never so busy that I didn't have time to smile at someone as they walked in the front door, or greet them and make them feel welcome, and it really paid off - for me as well as for them.

I always take the time to hold the door for others or to say "excuse me" if I bump into someone by accident, and it makes me feel great when I receive a "thank you" or a smile in return. It's obvious to me that I just added a positive element to that person's day, and that adds something positive to my day as well. In general, I feel I'm almost always received by others with eagerness and warmth, and I'm convinced that it's due largely to the good manners my mother took such great pains to instill in me from an early age.

Good manners are important because they are the way we show respect for the people we meet and interact with in all aspects of our daily

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