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Peggy M. Parks, AICI CIP, CPBS

Ambassador of Corporate Civility

The Parks Image Group

Ambassadors of Corporate Civility
serving company, leadership and staff
Peggy M. Parks, AICI CIP, CPBS
Contact The Parks Image Group today and let us help you:
  • build corporate credibility and staff confidence; and
  • ensure that your employees at every level of the company represent your corporate brand and message, both internally and when they interact with the public.

Don’t Stick Your Foot in Your Mouth

August 8, 2011 by RoseNew

Last weekend a friend of mine attended a wedding held in Canada. She was chatting with a friend who had just moved from Europe to her home state, Georgia, for work. Soon a couple came over and introduced themselves. They asked the second woman, who was Swedish, where she was from, and when she responded that she lived in Georgia, they made dramatic groans and started complaining about their experiences with the South. After a few moments, my friend smiled and said, “This is probably a bad time to tell you that I was born and raised in Georgia.” The couple immediately tried to backtrack—“Oh, everyone there is friendly, it’s just not what we’re used to”—but the damage was done.

The lesson? It’s best to not announce your opinions on a topic unless you’re with close friends. At events like weddings and business conferences, you tend to meet people from a variety of backgrounds, and you should never assume that a person will agree with you. It’s far better to ask any person you meet some polite, informal questions to get to know them better, and steer clear of controversial topics.

 You should also avoid gossip or criticisms if you’re talking to someone new. I know someone who was at a networking party and commented that he wasn’t a fan of the event’s set-up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the end of the night that he realized that the person he had been complaining to was the event organizer’s husband!

When we meet new people, we can sometimes grasp at straws just to make conversation. However, voicing a negative opinion or resorting to catty gossip runs the risk of offending someone and causing hurt feelings. Stay positive, or at the very least neutral. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it!

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Filed Under: Etiquette Tagged With: conversation etiquette, etiquette, etiquette expert, gossip, Image, image consultant, image expert, parks image group, party etiquette, peggy parks, wedding etiquette

American City Business Journal – Guest Columnist

Peggy is the ongoing guest etiquette and civility columnist for American City Business Journal’s How To blog. ACBJ is the parent company to the Atlanta Business Chronicle and its 39 sibling newspapers throughout the country. You can see a list of her most recent American City Business Journal articles here.

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Read Peggy’s Most Recent Blog Posts

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Expert corporate image consultant in Atlanta Georgia serving clients throughout the South, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
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