Social Etiquette

Why she slapped him

By Arden / December 27, 2010 /

I sometimes get emails from people asking for etiquette advice. This week I received a pretty interesting one. This is what “John” (name changed to protect the guilty) wrote: I’m not sure if you can offer advice on my situation, which I suppose is in the realm of manners and etiquette, but I thought I’d give…

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Gag gifts gone wrong

By Arden / December 20, 2010 /

I enjoy giving gifts, especially when I pick just the right item and the recipient is thrilled with the present. Because of this, I’m not a fan of white elephant gift exchanges. It seems wasteful to give people gag gifts or gifts no one wants. It can also be offensive if a risqué gift is…

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How I survived my first TV appearance

By Arden / December 15, 2010 /

In business, as in life, there are firsts. Our first interview, our first presentation, the first time managing people, etc. The firsts are always scarier because of the unknown. We haven’t experienced it before and we don’t know what to expect. We may not know everything we need to know to be good at the…

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Airplane Etiquette

By Arden / November 29, 2010 /

A friend and Clise Etiquette Facebook fan asked me about airplane etiquette. She had just returned from a Thanksgiving trip overseas and had experienced some rude behavior on the plane. It’s stressful traveling. We now have to submit to either a revealing x-ray or being intimately touched by TSA. We wait in line and wait…

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Snopocalypse and Etiquette

By Arden / November 23, 2010 /

It’s snopocalypse in Seattle! It started snowing yesterday and didn’t stop until late last night. True, we only got 2 to 4 inches, but it was enough to cause mayhem in the evening and now morning commute. Those of you who live in colder weather areas probably think we’re crazy that a little snow is…

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Halloween Dos and Don’ts

By Arden / October 21, 2010 /

This is a guest post by Rachel Burke, student and Clise Etiquette intern. On the one night of the year when we encourage our children to talk to strangers and accept candy from them, parents need to be on top of all the do’s and don’ts for this spooky day. Most importantly, remember to use…

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Shower Me With Money

By Arden / October 15, 2010 /

There is an advice column I read in the Seattle Times called “Ask Amy”. This past Sunday’s advice seeker stated he and his wife received a wedding shower invitation where not only was a cash gift requested but a dollar amount was specified. “Perturbed in Seattle” felt it was very bad etiquette, while his wife…

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Directness vs. Diplomacy

By Arden / October 7, 2010 /

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.

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PR Blunder or Just Desserts?

By Arden / September 29, 2010 /

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…

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Are Seattleites Lacking in Hospitality?

By Arden / September 27, 2010 /

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…

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