5 Things To Keep In Mind To Avoid Being Rude

You may not realize you are being rude and even if you do, you may not think that it’s likely to offend anyone. Well, you are wrong.

Don’t brush off being rude as you just being yourself, and that people are just too damn sensitive nowadays. As laid back as some folk are, no one wants to have a conversation or hang out with someone who has no manners.

Culture is one of the things you have to keep in mind when being polite. Something acceptable in one country can be frowned upon in another. Take farting, for instance. Apparently in Inuit culture, letting a huge one rip after a meal means you are complimenting the chef, but if you do that in most restaurants around the world, there is a chance that you will not be welcomed back. In China, spitting in public is the norm and not regarded as rude, whereas if you were to do it in Singapore, you risk getting lynched.

# Mind your language

Foul language may be sexy if you are living the thug life, but in everyday situations, not so much. This is especially true when conducting yourself around strangers. Be sure to keep the cussing to a minimal and if you can help yourself, just don’t do it at all.

# Watch your please and thank you

The same way you would not forget to put clothes on in the morning before leaving the house, never forget to inject a ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ into every sentence, should one be called for. How you speak and carry yourself will greatly determine how people view you. The simplest things like saying thanks will make a world of difference.

# In jest, do not offend

No matter how fun and outgoing people are, they will still take offense if you say something negative about them. Some people may be less sensitive than others, but if you were to say something unpleasant on say, their weight, their job or their new hairstyle, they will undoubtedly feel offended even if you were joking.

People can get touchy over certain subjects, and even if they laugh it off, you can be sure that they would rather you have kept your mouth shut. For example I was speaking to a close friend about dieting and food when I said, “I don’t think I can cut out carbs from my diet, I love it too much.” She replied, “I know, I can tell.” Although it was lighthearted banter, I still took offense.

# Just don’t say it

Remember the saying, “If you have nothing nice to say, then don’t say it?” Unless you are staging an intervention, there is no need to be brutally honest to the point that you offend the other person. Nobody likes hearing negative things about themselves, and you being a downer is not going to help anyone. Hence, to not come off as rude, if what you are going to say has a negative connotation, just don’t say it.

# Don’t stare

Many people struggle with this, especially when they see something out of the norm. Ladies decked out in their sexiest attire, mothers with puke stains on their shirt, gay couples holding hands, accident victims and people with deformities are all excellent examples. They may not adhere to your code of conduct or look like you, but they are people with feelings and are not to be stared at or mocked.