Things Miss Manners Doesn't Teach You
Sep. 10th, 2009 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyssacI was brought up to be pretty "proper" with good manners. My husband calls me a princess - not that I was spoiled or anything, because I wasn't, I actually grew up quite poor, but my family was kind of old-fashioned. I was taught the proper way to walk, to stand, to conduct myself around my elders, etc. I was one of the few children that I know that would even when visiting family would sit carefully on the edge of the couch with my knees together and my hands folded in my lap, even as a 6 year old. Not that I am not often lazy and slouchy and can curse like a sailor now, the more uncomfortable or "shy" I am in a situation, the more formal and proper I become. My husband also makes fun of my writing, like letters or emails, because my style is quite formal.
What this is all leading up to, is that I committed a major faux pas today while trying to follow my 'manners' in a situation.
Three of us were having problems with our Hematology homework on bone marrow, and we went to my rotation supervisor, the Hematology Section Chief. She arranged it so that the on staff Histopathologist would review it with us. He did an awesome job, and the other two walked out after, without saying thank you, so I attempted to do so, and held out my hand to shake.
BIG mistake. He literally cringed back and muttered something like "swine flu". I had completely forgotten that I have a cold. (Though, I had just washed my hands.) There are signs everywhere about the flu, and swine flu and H1N1, and how you aren't supposed to come into work if you have flu-like systems, yadda. On the other hand, I couldn't take the day off just for a cold, and I am sneezy, coughy, etc. I have a cold.
I didn't know that when I had left the office briefly to go get a drink, he had wiped down everything behind me.
I apologized later, and told him that I had forgotten that I had a cold, and I had just wanted to thank him. He was quite gracious about it.
Still, there are no people more paranoid about germs and touching than health care workers, and apparently Pathologists are even more touchy than other people. (You sure hear some of the anecdotes that were told to me today after this...)
So, sometimes, "proper" manners, are a very 'improper' thing to follow :)
What this is all leading up to, is that I committed a major faux pas today while trying to follow my 'manners' in a situation.
Three of us were having problems with our Hematology homework on bone marrow, and we went to my rotation supervisor, the Hematology Section Chief. She arranged it so that the on staff Histopathologist would review it with us. He did an awesome job, and the other two walked out after, without saying thank you, so I attempted to do so, and held out my hand to shake.
BIG mistake. He literally cringed back and muttered something like "swine flu". I had completely forgotten that I have a cold. (Though, I had just washed my hands.) There are signs everywhere about the flu, and swine flu and H1N1, and how you aren't supposed to come into work if you have flu-like systems, yadda. On the other hand, I couldn't take the day off just for a cold, and I am sneezy, coughy, etc. I have a cold.
I didn't know that when I had left the office briefly to go get a drink, he had wiped down everything behind me.
I apologized later, and told him that I had forgotten that I had a cold, and I had just wanted to thank him. He was quite gracious about it.
Still, there are no people more paranoid about germs and touching than health care workers, and apparently Pathologists are even more touchy than other people. (You sure hear some of the anecdotes that were told to me today after this...)
So, sometimes, "proper" manners, are a very 'improper' thing to follow :)
