I’m a member of Women Business Owners and am on the Ambassador Committee, which is essentially the committee that greets and orients new members. We had a committee meeting last week and the topic of thank you notes came up. 

One member mentioned she had sent her nephews on both sides of the family high school graduation gifts. One nephew hand-wrote a lovely note thanking her for the pen and the gift card. The other nephew neither wrote a note nor thanked her.

She said she chided the unmannerly nephew and said that the other nephew would be the one who goes further in life because a handwritten thank you note helps you stand out as a job candidate, friend, etc.

[...]

The other day my husband, Eric, and I grabbed a fast dinner at Whole Foods Market. We love the variety of options and how easy it is to get a quick meal.

As I was enjoying my chicken mole I noticed a very nicely dressed family sit down near us with their dinner. They must have been at a formal event because they definitely stood out amongst the rest of the jeans and t-shirt crowd. The family was a mom, dad and their son, who looked to be about 11 or 12. I had to laugh because the boy had chosen a sensible dinner of salmon but no vegetables. I surmised that the parents had given up fighting him to eat his veggies because they didn’t seem to be bothered by his choice.

[...]

I recently taught a social skills etiquette class to some high school students from Puget Sound Community School. One of the topics I covered was poise. I asked my students what poise meant to them. They replied “good posture”, “being confident” and “grace”. While those are part of poise there is more to it.

[...]

I’ve been asked to teach a kid’s etiquette class to both boys and girls. As I’ve been putting together the curriculum, I had to pause when it came to teaching appropriate behavior for boys for treating girls and women in this modern day. I wondered should men still be expected to open the door for a woman, to pull her chair out, help her with her bags, walk on the street side of the sidewalk to protect her from splashes, etc.?

[...]