• Home
  • About
    • Why choose The Parks Image Group?
    • What others are saying…
    • Media
    • Press Releases
  • Corporate Workshops
    • Business Etiquette Training
  • Personal Branding
    • Self-Branding
    • Personal Branding 101
    • Personal Image Consulting
  • Speaking
  • Resources
    • News and Articles
    • Books
    • Video
    • VOILA! Newsletter
  • Blog
  • Contact

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.

Thinking Twice Before Asking Favors

September 27, 2010 by RoseNew

We all at one time or another need a little help. Sometimes we need a lot of help. And when those moments come, it’s nice to know that we have a supportive network of friends and family members who can give us a hand if we need it.

But then there are those times when we convince ourselves that we need help and rely on favors from others. Our car won’t start—could you give us a ride? I left my glasses at the office—do you mind dropping them off? I’m running late—can I cut in line? Can I borrow this—again? I’ve got to leave work early—can you cover for me? Sure, once in a while those requests can be easily met. But have you noticed that some people lack all self-reliance and continue to ask these favors over and over again? Rather than finding another way, they take advantage of people, and when those people finally say no, they blame them for being unkind and selfish.

For example, if your car is in the shop and nobody can give you a ride—or you’ve exhausted all of your “favor credit”—wouldn’t it make sense to rent a car or take public transportation? If you constantly need to borrow, say, your co-worker’s stapler or your neighbor’s lawnmower, isn’t it time you bought one of your own? So many of us fail to think twice before we ask favors of people. Everything is an emergency; everything becomes someone else’s problems, rather than something we get through on our own.

One thing I’ve noticed on Facebook and Twitter is a trend of people—who are presumably online and able to use Google—asking common, easily searchable questions, such as: “Does anyone know what the weather is going to be like on Sunday?” or “What time does the Eagles game start?” Now, it’s one thing to ask for advice, but to be so lazy as to depend on others to feed you basic information that you could have easily found yourself shows a lack of civility! There is even a phrase, “Let me Google that for you,” which has been created as a response to this annoying behavior.

If I sound like I’m encouraging people to never do or ask favors, I’m not. If someone asks you a favor and you’re in a position to help, you should. But all of us who find ourselves in a bind should consider carefully if it is worth putting someone out, or are we just asking out of laziness and neediness? Have we exhausted this person’s good will? You should also be quick to repay favors, and thank people appropriately. Don’t take them for granted!

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • Pocket
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Civility, Etiquette Tagged With: asking favors, civility, civility counts, civility expert, etiquette, etiquette expert, favors, Image, parks image group, peggy parks

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.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Peggy M. Parks!

Follow Us on E-mailFollow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedIn

Read Peggy’s Most Recent Blog Posts

  • Visiting a newborn baby: Do you know your etiquette?
  • Trump’s dandruff faux pas
  • Respect other people’s vacation time
  • Brush up on your public transportation etiquette
  • Being mindful of “invisible disabilities”

Peggy’s Blog Post Archives

Expert corporate image consultant in Atlanta Georgia serving clients throughout the South, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
© 2012 - 2015  Peggy M. Parks, AICI CIP, CPBS •  Post Office Box 52066  •  Atlanta, GA 30355

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.