The core tenets of good etiquette is thinking about other people. Most of our rude behavior comes from "thoughtlessness.” One of the tricks of combating rudeness is paying attention to the people around us. That is particularly challenging when your combatting the weather and the wet and rainy days of March. Here are a few tricks to use this Spring to improve your wet weather etiquette.
· Close your umbrella when walking under scaffolding or a covered passageway. Make way for people.
· Texting and walking in the rain with a wide, wet umbrella is more than rude. It can wait.
· If you’re tall, the points of your umbrella are parallel to the faces of those shorter than you. Be mindful.
· If you change out of your rain boots at the office, make sure your co-workers do not see or smell you doing so.
· The door guys are kind enough to set out a plastic bag for your umbrella, so use it. No one wants to slip on your drips.
· Be extra courteous (and fiscally generous) with delivery men and women who work outside no matter the condition. Imagine how you would feel with their job!
· If your Uber or bus window has been left open, wipe any rain you’ve left on the seats away before you leave. It’s an extra nice thing to do.
· When leaving a store or restaurant, it’s OK to steal an umbrella of equal or lesser value than yours from the pile by the door, but only if someone else has already stolen yours. No, this is not OK! But it did jog your memory of that one time you may have done this, so, don’t do it again.
· Avoid awkward encounters during sudden downpours: only four people fit comfortably under a standard street awning, two under most doorways.
· Forget, Match.com. Use the bad weather to your advantage. Offer your umbrella to an attractive stranger.
Instantly improve your mood, be thoughtful and check the 10-day forecast and share the news of sunnier skies with family and colleagues to come.
This rain too shall pass.