Mr. Manners

So I just got a scolding from "Anonymous" who wondered if I'd won Etiquette Idol and if such a win combined with a proper upbringing qualified me to comment on folks' behavior. Two answers: If there was an Etiquette Idol I wouldn't enter, because like I said in my first posting I really don't care which fork you use or how you fold your napkins. I hate to disappoint you, but I didn't attend a finishing school. Second, yes, "Anonymous." I was raised right, and that does partially qualify me to comment on how people carry themselves in public. That being said, I have no problem admitting my own flubs.

And in keeping with that position, I have a few to share for "Anonymous" so he/she doesn't have to worry about whether I'm really human.

This is a one time mulligan though, "Anonymous," because if you had read my first few posts, you would have seen at least one admission to a behavioral flub on my part. But you want to know my bad behaviors. Here are a few. And no worries, if I step in it, I'll write about it just as quickly as I would if I saw you "act 'a fool." Trust me, if I didn't admit it my wife and friends would find a way to post it for me.

• I was recently at dinner with my wife, when I spotted a friend and co-worker who waved me over, so that her husband could meet my wife. Before I thought about it I'd called out to my wife, who was standing about 20 feet away with other friends waiting for our table to be ready. It was only after I shouted her name that it struck me I was in a restaurant and that my loudness was in bad taste and probably annoying to the folks already seated.
• Two postings ago I said that last week I made an assumption about a young man, because of his appearance. And I turned out to be 100% wrong about his intentions.
• I used naughty words a few weeks ago, when I stubbed my toe carrying materials out of a hardware store. Might've been excusable, but there was a woman with a small child standing within what I believed to be earshot of me. The woman didn't react and the child was oblivious. So maybe they didn't hear me. But it still wasn't cool on my part.

"Anonymous," I hope those examples demonstrate that I'm human enough for you. I forgot to tell you the other thing that qualifies me to comment on folks' behavior, including my own. Good sense.

Peace.