Can Good Manners be considered as a social skill to help us to face the world head on? Definitely, the answer is YES. I could watch this during my trainee in the United Kingdom. As time progressed, I watched how timid and blushing English people became different persons exuding more confidence and self-assurance in themselves. At the end of the course, honestly I was not able to recognize them. Truly, they were different people now facing the world head on... What was the reason of all above mentioned? Certainly, it was not the way people were dressed nor the brand of the car or the helicopter they took to leave the English mansion situated in Somerset where the course took place. It was something that went beyond material possessions. What was then?   It's was really a matter of having learned Good Manners there, now considered as social skills in the whole United Kingdom. It was the way they learned to behave, to sit down, the way they acted presenting themselves at a job interview or a meeting, the way they walked and entered into a room full of people, the way in which they acted as host of an event so that the guests will want to come back, and why not it was also the way in which they could act at a dinner table with great style and flair. In certain way, after having learned these social skills one exudes more confidence and self-assurance when acting.   Good Manners, Etiquette or Politeness is about building strong relationships with people by introducing ourselves with the kind of polish that shows we can be taken seriously. It is also about feeling comfortable around someone and vice versa and when this happens, a better communication and mutual trust will develop. We should be aware that people may feel that if we cannot be trusted not to embarrass ourselves in business or social situations, we may lack the self control necessary to be good at what we do. Our manners and attitude will speak volumes about us. We should assume that many potentially worthwhile and profitable business have been failed because of an unintentional and serious breach of Good Manners between the people involved.

Good manners have nothing to do with trying to act in a stiff way but with paying attention to the person in front of us as well as ourselves. Believe it or not, Good Manners may help us to gain confidence and self-assurance in ourselves.

Table is an example of this. We all know that it is not just a piece of furniture with four or three legs. It is above all, a meeting point. It is a place where we can get together with others. On a table, agreements are signed, contracts are negotiated, arguments are held and a good meal takes place between relatives or friends, and it is whether we like it or not the place where many social tests have to be passed and endured at some point in our lives. Depending on the way we behave at the table, the others will know what they can expect of us and vice versa. Good Manners always reflect refinement and social enlightenment.

When you see somebody eat one can notice many things. One of them is to realize if that person in front of us is well educated or if we are merely in front of someone who is well instructed. Education and Instruction. These are two words which cannot be mixed up. You can be educated yet humble, having no formal instruction. And there are other people who have had access to great formal instruction but stand out in life for not having Good Manners and not being aware of the minimum protocol rules. Good Manners reflect how properly cultured, civilized and educated we are. 

Think, how many times have we been to an event and we found ourselves doubting on what to do with the cutlery in front of us? Or what is simpler, how many times have we doubted on whether to clink our glasses or not when having a toast. Should be take our glass by the top? or should be take it by the stem? What can we do to enter into a room full of people and not feel intimidated by them? If I am the waiter, which way should I serve liquid sauces to the people at the table?

Honestly, it is not good to go through life having doubts all the time about how we should behave living in society, especially when one has the drive to be better every day. We need to keep in mind that we represent the companies for which we are working at that time, or the family we belong to. We need to become aware that we are their image. Doubting on how to act in those situations makes us fade in the background, lose power and style in front of others. And who doesn't want in a way to distinguish from the crowd and shine?

That is why learning Good Manners is good. These social skills are here now to be developed and imitated, to be acquired and cultivated. By using them, they will open us a whole new world to social interaction with others. Besides of being the owners of something that no one else can take away from us once we have learnt them.  These social skills will allow us to gain four important things such as self-esteem, flair, confidence and the self-assurance that every person deserves to have in order to face today's world with the head on leaving a good long lasting impression about himself or herself in anyone he or she socially interacts with.