Not so long ago, in middle school, we had etiquette classes: learning good manners. I remember being called to order by a nun during a meal where I had brought a slice of bread to my mouth: “Mademoiselle! We must break bread!” I have never forgotten this breach of etiquette!
Luce Viens
Usually, if I am invited to have a meal with friends or family, I like to bring two bottles of wine, one as a thank you for the invitation and the other to drink with dinner or not.
Francine Lafortune
“You shall not bring back to yourself.” I’m surprised how quickly people bring it back to them in an exchange. It doesn’t matter if I’m talking about something banal or something that shook me, my interlocutor will, most of the time, respond with this beginning of a sentence: “Well, me, there…” Sometimes, you have to let your self aside to be truly present. Listening without constantly bringing it back to yourself is a way of affirming the value of others.
Ronald Morris
More than 25 years ago, I was the principal of a primary school. During the year, I welcome a new student into my office for a special education class. He is accompanied by his educator. He speaks to me informally, I intervene by telling him that here at school, we say “you” to the staff. He replies to me: “Oh yes, I know that!” Adorable.
Thérèse De Clerck
When you open a door that closes by itself, you make sure that no one follows you or you make sure that the other person does not receive the door in the face. When you park, take the space of your car, not that of a bus, you are not alone in your neighborhood. When you’re waiting in a room at the hospital, don’t tell us the story of Abitibi out loud. Nobody asked you. When you meet someone in a long corridor, you smile at them, instead of looking at your phone. I call it human ecology.
Sylvain Couture
At the cinema you will be discreet and you will not feel like you are in your living room.
Pietro Barsetti
I was developing a press relations service in a French company located in downtown Montreal. A few times a year, I invited journalists from the field to lunch to present the new collections. But how embarrassed I was to eat when I found their table manners so elegant! They knew how to handle their utensils, didn’t make any noise, placed their knives at the top of the plate and not on the side. I was so uncomfortable that I decided to take two courses, Table Etiquette and Office Etiquette. What happiness! Everyone should follow table etiquette at a minimum. It helped me so much and even today, I notice the way people behave at the table.
Lise Beauchemin
To open or not the bottle of wine (free)? Easy. We serve it right away. If the guests have brought piquette, let them drink it!
Bernard Marcoux