On my mind

I have something I have debated about blogging about since Saturday evening because it can be a touchy subject and well I've decided I'm just going to do it. Here goes I guess this is truly why we all write blogs so we can write about our feelings.



I feel like my generation of women has lost all sense of etiquette (ok not all of them but a lot of them). Jeremy and I attended that lovely banquet saturday night we sat with two of the board council members and the community director but there were some empty chairs directly to our right. Chairs that were supposed to have been filled with two women from Jeremy's company. Well they showed up about an hour late everyone at our table was finished with dessert and those that drink it were enjoying coffee, and the awards ceremony was nearly over.

They still walked in wearing sparkly flip flops with their cute black dresses, I wish that wearing flip flops no matter how sparkly was outlawed at cocktail attire events there's not much worse than wearing an adorable dress and flip flops if you must wear flats please be sure they are closed toe or cute sandals but NOT flip flops.

But that's not the worse of these two women's behavior. They walked in late proceeded to ask for things to be passed around the table making noise, and nibbling on food, and then and then and my friends this where I really very nearly lost it got out their cell phones and began texting their friends. They didn't stay for the public forum discussion afterwards even though the nice people putting on the awards held seats for those of us that attended up close to the speaker.

These women looked to be in their early 20's and some may say it's just the generation but my husband and I who are 26 and 23 respectively arrived 10 minutes early, turned off both of our cell phones upon arrival, and had light but engaging conversation with board members seated at our table. As you can tell from the picture above we wore cocktail attire which for me included heels, and nice jewelry, and for my husband it included a suit and tie. I will admit I did take his jacket from him and drape it around my shoulders as it was chilly in banquet hall which is not something I would normally do but what's a girl to do deal with goosebumps or try to do something about it?

I went to finishing school for two summers I learned all about how to eat properly, when to arrive, when to leave, how to support light conversation with meaninful additions, formal place settings, introducing myself to new people, and also what to wear to events such as these and I can tell you friends flip flops has never been on the list of acceptable attire. I have dined with governor and charmed my way through several pageant judges in my day. In my sorority also we were given etiquette training and also required to dress up at least one day a week for classes I tried to dress up at least 3 myself. I work in a casual environment yet almost everyday except for Friday you will still see me in nice heels and dress pants.


It could be that I am southern in roots or that I'm just plain old fashion. But I believe these are important values that are being lost on our generation due in large part to the technological advances and the fact that we can e-mail our friends on our phone from anywhere. I have a blackberry curve and I love it whenever I'm sitting in a doctor's office by myself I text a friend, I can be constantly in communication with my Relay committee without interrupting my work flow on my company computer and much more. However I would never be talking on it when someone's trying to help me at the bank, a restaurant or a grocery store check out and I would NEVER pull it out at a semi-formal awards ceremony in which people are being honored for their great accomplishments and start texting my friends. It's just not polite.


I think every woman should know how to command a room when it's called for but I also believe we should all know how to behave like ladies in situations such as these. Don't get me wrong I love football and wearing sweats just as much as the next girl but I also know when the situation calls for it I have the training to conduct myself like a lady.

I hope when we have children that my husband and I can instill in them the value of good manners and learning etiquette it's not always fun but it's always correct.

I found these particular women at this event to represent my husband's company very poorly and I felt bad for my husband knowing how hard we both worked to make a good impression for the very reason that everyone at the table knew who he has representing.

So in short I really hope our generation catches up on the manners game and if not we can at least teach it to our children.