A. Remember to keep courses balanced so that everyone is eating at the same time.
B. If you’re talking to someone, don’t look at your pager for a message while they are speaking.
C. Others may resent you for “going overboard12”. Consider sending group gifts rather than individual gifts to bosses. It’s all right, however, to send a card or flowers to your boss if he or she has been ill or in the hospital.
D. Good manners really can give your career a boost13, but are you confident that you know the rules?
E. Similarly, leaning back with your legs crossed and one side off the seat of the chair is an unseemly display for a woman. So is sitting like a sexy starlet on the Tonight Show.
F. The expression “How’s it going?” for instance, doesn’t make much sense to someone who doesn’t understand what “it” refers to, let alone where it would be “going”.
G. “If this person can’t handle the fundamentals of a knife and fork, what else did this person neglect to learn--and do I want him to handle my account?”
H. Be sure to express your thanks for being given the information.