And be careful of this, that each day at your meals you have two overseers over your household when you sit at meals, and of this be sure, that you shall be very much feared and reverenced.
A woman comes to a table, and you're supposed to get up. Period. But I don't always do it. In general, you're supposed to do it every time. But sometimes you're seated against the wall, and it's awkward.
In society it is etiquette for ladies to have the best chairs and get handed things. In the home the reverse is the case. This is why ladies are more sociable than gentlemen.
Never refuse a breath mint - you don't know why it's being offered.
Do not smoke without asking permission or sit so near (as in a train) that the smoke might annoy.
I think that there's etiquette for every means of communication. People are very judgmental and have strict rules. I don't think you should end a relationship with a Post-it note. I know some people who get offended when an e-mail is sent as a "thank you" note instead of a hand-written card.
Common courtesy dictates that we never drain the lifeblood of anyone to whom we've been formally introduced.
One should write not unskillfully in the running hand, be able to sing in a pleasing voice and keep good time to music; and, lastly, a man should not refuse a little wine when it is pressed upon him.
To sacrifice the principles of manners, which require compassion and respect, and bat people over the head with their ignorance of etiquette rules they cannot be expected to know is both bad manners and poor etiquette. That social climbers and twits have misused etiquette throughout history should not be used as an argument for doing away with it.
