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Not your grandmother’s etiquette

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Hello and welcome to the Clise Etiquette blog, a place to discuss savvy and not so savvy decorum. Etiquette may sound like a stuffy or old-fashioned topic, but it’s really just about making yourself and others more comfortable by being respectful, kind and professional.

I am an etiquette consultant, speaker, trainer, coach and author of Spinach in Your Boss’s Teeth: Essential Etiquette for Professional Success. I share etiquette and protocol tips, stories and techniques that you can use to feel more confident, at ease and successful socially and in the workplace.

I invite you to share your thoughts and questions on the situations in life that confuse you, anger you, give you pause or make you proud. Please feel free to let me know if there are topics you’d like me to discuss or hear more about. Some of my best posts come from questions or stories readers share with me.

Thank you for stopping by. I invite you to subscribe to my blog by clicking on the green button.

Directness vs. Diplomacy

As you may know, I write a business etiquette column for the Puget Sound Business Journal. Each week when the Journal arrives I eagerly open it up to the “Growing your Business” section to see if my latest column has run. Seeing my name in print is still exciting.

How to Avoid Being Defriended

The new movie, Social Network, about the founding of Facebook, opened October 1st to rave reviews and box office success. Facebook went from being a social networking site for college students to the site that is searched more than Google with more than 500 million users.  When both grandparents and grandkids are on Facebook you…

PR Blunder or Just Desserts?

This is a guest post by Lisa Samuelson, founder of Samuelson Communications. Recently Steve Jobs was incredibly rude to a journalism student who was working on an assignment about iPads as a teaching tool. When the PR department at Apple didn’t respond to her many calls and emails, she found Steve Jobs’ email and reached…

Are Seattleites Lacking in Hospitality?

I was talking to someone from the Midwest who stated that we Seattleites are not very hospitable when guests stop by our homes. This person claimed that in the Midwest, if someone came by the house the host would drop everything and offer the guest something nice to drink, like fresh squeezed lemonade, and a…

7 Etiquette Best Practices for Your Next Networking Event

This is a guest post by Matt Heinz, founder and principal of Heinz Marketing, LLC. You’ve seen what not to do.  You’ve likely experienced it more than once.  The guy who talks only about himself.  The contact who’s constantly scanning the room for someone else.  The sales rep who paid good money to be there,…

How Not to Go Mad as a Host or Guest

I have been consumed by Mad Men madness. I think what’s so compelling about the show is witnessing a way of life that is so foreign from our lives today. A way of life that included a three martini lunch followed by a scotch on the rocks afternoon meeting; cigarettes being smoked everywhere including the…

Are You Chasing Away Your Customers?

I was talking to a colleague yesterday about an encounter she had with a young salesperson. My colleague, let’s call her Carol, and I were co-presenters at a networking event and met the salesperson there. After the event, the salesperson, I’ll call her Sue, called Carol.

Is the customer always right?

This is a guest post from Stacya Silverman, owner of Stacya Silverman and Associates Salon. I like to think of myself not only as a person who practices good customer service at my shop, but in my off hours, I try to be a good customer, too. But what does that mean?  I’ve been thinking…

“Please Rise for the Jury.”

I had the honor of serving on a jury for a trial in Seattle Municipal Court. If it had been a state superior court trial I probably wouldn’t have thought it was such an honor, but due to the less egregious nature of the crimes tried in Municipal Court the trial lasted a total of…

Lessons Learned from RAW

My husband, Eric, and I just returned from a weeklong bike tour through Eastern Washington. The bike ride, called Ride Around Washington or RAW was organized by Cascade Bike Club. There were about 230 people on the tour. We had a wonderful time. We saw parts of Washington we’ve never seen before, the ride had plenty…
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