Social & Lifestyle Etiquette

I didn’t see it coming, nor did I want to see it, but my niece did, and she was grossed out by a woman parading around the locker room in her birthday suit. Of course, you can’t wear a towel when you’re dressing and undressing, but the rest of the time (doing your makeup and hair, walking to and from the restroom, shower, and sauna), remember: locker room towels are there for a reason, so use them.

Which leads us to our first secret of locker-room etiquette:

· Cover up. I’m thrilled that your body is fit as a fiddle, but not everyone wants to see it. Show off by the pool in your bathing suit.

· Avoid the locker room stare. If you wear a towel at the appropriate times, you won’t have to worry about drawing looks. But if others are into self-display, just ignore them—it’s uncool to stare.

When you’re on a ship at sea, the captain is always king. You might not be lucky enough to sit at his table for dinner, but remember that you are a subject of his kingdom. For smooth sailing on the seas, remember your proper etiquette, but also keep in mind a few extra rules: The…

Some foods are tricky to eat in public. When at lunch or dinner with friends or colleagues, stick with the foods you feel most comfortable eating. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, practice makes perfect with all foods! These are accepted techniques for eating bothersome foods: • Bacon should be eaten with a knife and…

The first Fashion Week (then called Press Week) was held in New York in 1943. Today, there are two Fashion Weeks in the city each year, in February and September. New York’s version is considered one of the four major fashion events in the world (the others are in Paris, Rome, and Milan). If you’re…

  Hanky panky nothing. If I talk to one more person with a cold and cough, I may start giving out cough drops as hostess gifts. It’s this time of year that I become a germaphobe. Any way you slice it, sneezing in public is messy and noisy, yet it cannot be helped. In fact,…

As a former music major, classical music is emotionally overwhelming for me. So naturally my experience is spoiled when a performance is interrupted by a cell phone ringing or someone unwrapping candy. Fortunately, at live performances we are reminded that phones and pagers must be turned off before the concert begins. But it never hurts…

Whether you’re being served at a table or you serve yourself, the rules of courteous behavior still apply. Here are 10 basic rules to follow when you’re on a cruise and faced with serving yourself at a buffet. 1. Thou shall be patient in line. Buffet lines can be long, but since there is enough…

  We all know that doctors are often unable to meet their appointment times. The waiting room is called that for a reason. But you can make the wait more pleasant for yourself and others by following a few guidelines. • Don’t sprawl out on the furniture as if you’re in your own living room….

Uber. How many times does this word enter your vocabulary? It rarely entered mine until the personal car service Uber was formed. Now available in many major U.S. cities and in twenty-two countries, Uber allows you to book and pay for a car online or with your smartphone, and offers vehicles ranging from town cars…