Minding your P's and Q's

I often hear parents reminding their young children to say please and thank you. As a sales person, it's also very important to remember to say please and thank you to your customers. Basically be friendly and polite and it should keep your customers returning because of the good service they receive as well as the great products.

Being polite is something we were raised with, and some of us continue that through adulthood. It seems to me though, that some people seem to have forgotten that lesson. I've held doors for people who've walked right through without acknowledging me. A dollar tip would've been nice although I would've settled for a thank you or a smile.

A little while back, there was a Facebook page set up for people in Bellingham, WA who wanted to have a time in the day when only Americans were allowed to shop at their local Costco. The Canadians, they said, were too pushy and rude. Unfortunately, as with everything, we all get tarred with the same brush even though we're not all rude. People seem to think they can get away with it because as the city grows, our sense of anonymity grows as well. We can give each other the finger, confident that the chances of seeing the other person again are about as much as winning the lottery jackpot.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here because nobody I associate with would ever knowingly be rude or obnoxious. But I hope that there will be some random person who ends up reading this post, and remembers to thank the next person who holds the door or lets him or her into traffic.

Oh and personally, I have no problems with the P's, it's the J's that I get backwards a lot.