I saw a list of unwritten rules that make you civilized on Dr Mahfouz’s facebook and I have decided to share. Follow this thread.
1. Don’t call someone more than twice continuously. If they don’t pick up your calls, that means they have something more important to attend to, or they are not near their phones at that time.
2. When your colleague/ classmate/ team-mate, neighbour, gets shouted at, please don’t stare at them. It makes the moment twice awkward.
3. When someone drops something on the floor by mistake, drops food from the plate or doesn’t know how to use a knife/fork don’t stare at them. The same goes to people sneezing, coughing or even letting out an uncontrollable fart. They are all involuntary actions.
4.Always skip using the washroom beside the occupied one. It makes it uneasy for the person in the occupied washroom as well as yourself, if you occupy the one right next to theirs.
5. Return money that you have borrowed even before the other person remembers that he lent it to you, be it #100, #100,000 or #1, 000,000. It shows your integrity and character. Same goes with borrowed umbrellas, pens, lunch boxes or any other item you borrow.
6. Never order the expensive dish on the menu when someone is treating you to lunch/dinner. If possible, ask them to order their choice of food for you.
7. Don’t ask awkward questions like, ‘Oh, so you aren’t married yet?’ Or ‘Don’t you have kids?’ or ‘Why didn’t you buy a house?’ it can embarrass or devastate the person. Have common sense!
8. When someone makes a wrong investment and loses their money, don’t add fuel to the flames by saying ‘I knew this would happen. You should have listened to me’. Don’t make failure seem worse for anyone.
9. Always open the door for the person coming behind you. It doesn’t matter if it is a male or a female. You don’t grow small by treating someone well in public or by being kind.
10. When on the wrong, apologise, when on the right ,shut up. It does not demean the character in you just to say "I apologize, i was wrong on this/that". These are what we call "BASICS" and applies mostly in Relationships and marriages.
11. Wear ear phones when travelling on a subway, car or bus. Don’t make others taste your choice of good/bad music. Don't put them through the pain of listening to music under compulsion, no matter how good you think the song or sound is. Always assume they are not in the mood.
12. Don't visit anyone/knock on people's doors unannounced, irrespective of how close they are to you.Call them up and have an appointment, some days or at least a day to your visit, except it is an unavoidable emergency, that probably involves a one -on one seeing
13. When you knock on someone’s door, wait for a response before going in. Knocking means, "can i come in?" and not, " i am coming in". Get a response from inside the house, before you know what next to do. No response? Then go back.
14. When you stretch out your hand to give or take a handshake, always, always, accompany it with a smile and a direct look into the other
person's eyes. Make your handshake firm, especially for guys.
person's eyes. Make your handshake firm, especially for guys.
16. Always go out with a handkerchief. With the prevalence of air bonne diseases and germs, the least you could do for yourself is cover your mouth when you yawn and sneeze. In as much you don't want to pick up something new, you should also not spread some of yours.
Don’t swipe left or right when someone hands over their phone to you for viewing a particular picture, except he /she permits you to. And also, don't browse through their messages and call lists. People's phones and the contents are their private property. Learn to respect that.
Thanks for being civil and have a good day!🙌
