GL charm school: get down with good manners.
All the cool kids are doing it
Girls' Life, Dec, 2007 by Kelly White
Etiquette. It never goes out of fashion. So at the risk of seeming rude, GL asked readers to dish their embarrassing bed-manners moments. We consulted the utmost experts on social savvy to find out how these situations could be handled with face-saving grace....
Cell Phone Courtesy
I was at mg BFF's volleyball game, and a girl on the opposing team was getting ready to serve so everyone in the gym is supposed to be really quiet. Right as the girl threw the ball up, mg cell rang--and my ringtone is the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Everyone was laughing at me as I fumbled to answer it. can you guess who was on the phone? My BFF from the sideline.--Sarah
"You cannot blame your friend for what happened," says Lisa Gache, protocol instructor, Beverly Hills Manners. "Why was your phone on in the first place?" Yup, all of our etiquette experts agree that you should always turn your cellie off (or switch it to vibrate, at the very least) before entering a public space.
This includes--but certainly isn't limited to--sports arenas, theaters, restaurants, museums, concert halls, places of worship and "especially those tight-fitting spaces where people are held hostage to others' conversations, like dressing rooms," says Dr. Michele Borba, staff consultant, Etiquette and Leadership Institute. "The Cell Phone Rule of Good Manners is to create a 10-foot buffer zone between you and the person closest to you. Should you forget to silence your cell, diffuse the situation by politely apologizing to anyone you've offended."