Tuesday 17 February 2009

What happened to "Please!"

I was in Starbucks getting a Soy Latte (love it with brown sugar).
The English woman next to me collects her coffee from the barista and then says: "Can I have a tray?" She didn't say it rudely -- she just wasn't polite.
That got me thinking. Whatever happened to "please"?
To me:
'Please' means 'I respect you'.
'Thank you' means 'I appreciate you'.
Good manners are powerful in showing those around you that you care about them.

I love Frankie Byrne's line that "Respect is Love in plain clothes."

How often have you bought something at a store or ordered something in a restaurant and just ached to hear some good manners?

Authentic success is not complicated. It comes down to consistently following a series of fundamentals. Those who get to greatness just run the basics-bit by bit, day by day-over many months and years.

It's not hard at all. It just takes small acts of daily discipline around a few important things.
But when done over time -- amazing results appear.

The best among us just do the things most of us already know we should do to live an extraordinary life really well. And they do it consistently.

One of the key things they do is say "Please" a lot. Good manners are a stepping stone to being a remarkable human being, whether as a mother, a father, a salesperson or the CEO. They really do show people that you respect them.

Yes, having good manners is common sense. But as the French philosopher Voltaire once said: "Common sense is anything but common." And if all this stuff is so obvious, how come most people don't do it?

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Attalia Trophy

Attalia Trophy
Open University MK

Attalia Trophy ~ OUSA

Ref: IP/MJ 21 March 1984

Kuldip Attalia,
Sherwood House,
Sherwood Drive,
Bletchley,
Milton Keynes.


Dear Kuldip,

On behalf of the Open University Students’ Association, I would like to thank you and your family for the very generous gift of the “Attalia Trophy”.
We are delighted that you have presented us with this and it will used to encourage our students to raise funds to help their less advantaged, disabled and housebound fellow students.

Each year the “Attalia Trophy” will be presented to “The Branch coming up with the best idea for fundraising”.

We will thus be able to encourage the smaller branches to compete to raise funds.

My thanks once again to you and your family for this most generous and thoughtful donation.

Yours sincerely,


Iris Price
VP Welfare
OUSA ~ The Open University Students Association
OUSA Office Sherwood House, Sherwood Drive, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK3 6RN
Phone: 0908 71131

Attalia Residence in Mombasa, Kenya

Attalia Residence in Nairobi, Kenya