Language of courtesy

"Mind your P's and Q's!"

Mother's words to every child in whatever language and culture you come from. Be polite. Say "please". Say "thank you". We all want to deal with polite people wherever we are in the world, even if we can't communicate in the same spoken language.

The writer of this forum letter was right to complain about rude service towards his elderly mother. There were no customers in the hair salon at the time. There were no seats other than barber chairs in the shop. Why can't she sit in the barber chair while waiting for her son? It's only a short while. Why does the haircutter tell her to sit in the stairwell outside?

Rightly so, the writer has taken his business elsewhere. He can't communicate in Mandarin with the staff in the new salon, but they treat him and his elderly mother with courtesy and concern. Granted, the two of them can't understand each other, but the message comes across loud and clear: the old lady is waiting for her son. She can sit comfortably in a nice chair in the shop while waiting. No matter if there are other customers. I would say this message speaks loud and clear to the other customers as well: the staff of this salon provide good customer service regardless of whether the person is a customer or not. This automatically translates into more business in the long run.

It is most helpful to speak the same language, but if you can't, just be polite and friendly. The language of courtesy knows no cultural or language barriers. Let's resolve to be courteous every day of our lives!

Here's to cross-cultural communication through the language of courtesy!

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