Dear readers,
Up until now, it’s been only me who was talking to you through my weekly newsletters. But as I have been building this etiquette community for over a year now, I am not only blessed with all of you, avid etiquette fans, but also with a great amount of your personal stories (or shall I call them nightmares?). Some of them made me laugh, others left me baffled.
In today’s newsletter, I will let you on the stage and share 5 of these stories with you. Brace yourself, dear friends, this might be a bumpy ride:
STORY NO.1:
''My now ex-husband thought it was funny to spice up the wedding by smashing our wedding cake right into my face and on my dress. I got shocked and somehow already then and there I could feel this wouldn’t last. Make-up and appearance have always been important to me and he knew it, and he still decided to completely destroy it all by smashing cream and jam into my face.''
STORY NO.2:
’’When I went to the opera for the first time, I dressed the part. I know there is no mandatory dress code but still it is a special event happening in the evening. It’s safe to say that I have never seen that many flip flops, shorts, sweatshirts and even baseball caps!’’
STORY NO.3:
''People coughing or sneezing directly into food! I cannot stand that. I mean, if it was just their own, but they do it at a buffet too! My first and last cruise ship vacation ended up in me stashing food every time we were on shore.''
STORY NO.4:
''When I worked as a sales clerk, it was absolutely normal to be shouted at or whistled at. Some of the customers even snapped their fingers at me. I lasted for 7 years though. My last drop was when a customer asked me to babysit her child while she went on shopping. I guess I should thank her now for quitting :-).''
STORY NO.5:
''I once told off my classmate for walking shirtless around the city. His response was the classic: ’’You can go topless too, I won’t mind!’’. To me it’s just very strange, you sit on furniture, use public transport etc. without anything covering your upper body.''
Dear readers, I feel grateful for being able to read and share these stories with you. They don’t only provide me with tons of inspiration, but also show me that etiquette is still relevant, perhaps more than ever.
Yours sincerely,
Katarina
Receive new etiquette tips from Katarina every week, sign up here.
Do you wish to become confident at any dining venue and navigate every culinary occasion with ease? Let me teach you dining etiquette from A to Z in my practical ebook! As a bonus, you will receive a FREE guide on how to tame tricky foods such as shrimp, oysters or escargot.