Tuesday, December 9, 2008

5th Day as the Etiquette Spokeswoman

I put on my gear yesterday and headed out into the world with my sick child. We stopped at the post office, where I offered to help a postal clerk find a new babysitter. Her babysitter quit with no notice (breech of etiquette - I would send her a card if I knew where she was!) and now she is jumping through hoops to get her kindergarten age child taken care of so she and her husband can get to work. I wasn't even tempted to give her the Family Etiquette card which states "Don't ask family for unreasonable babysitting services." She is in dire straits.

We headed from there to the grocery store, with my card showing 15 transgressions that can occur there. Nothing. Midwesterners are a gracious crowd! From there we headed my son's doctor appointment. We were left waiting in the examining room for 20 minutes. Normally I would have complained, "My time is valuable too!" "Why didn't you tell me you had a medical emergency, I would have understood!" But the nurse informed us at the start, that the doctor had an exam and we might want to read a book, (Code for: you'll be waiting awhile). When the doctor arrived she was very friendly, took time with us, so it turned out to be a nice experience. After that, we went to Blockbuster, where the clerk kindly showed us where Ben Ten and Scooby Doo were kept. No breeches here!

We went home.

Today's another day!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello ms. manners.

i totally agree with you for not passing on the family etiquette card, which reminds us not to ask family for babysitting services. it's obvious the clerk has been placed in a very stressful situation. i believe you should pass on to this young woman the family etiquette card, which reminds us to offer help when someone is in need. she shouldn't have to ask. what are your thoughts ms. manners?

A Year of Living Pinkly said...

I was not clear on your question but I do agree that family should help family. One cannot always look at the Etiquette book as a bible...we all need to be adaptable. It would have definitely added insult to injury had I given her a card. Instead I offered to help.

Thanks for you input!