Minding my own manners

Mr Swordy struggles to have good manners but he is very fancy.

I try and have good manners. I don't always, especially if no one is looking.

It is really easy to have bad manners via email and I try to not come across as rude as I know the person at the other end is actually trying to do their job too.

There is much discussion on the poor level of email received by bloggers from PR agencies. Some people hate when they get a generic message, others don't like/understand why they get media releases sent to them. I don't really mind this at all.

I do mind when I receive the third pitch for a product promoting baby food that is made overseas, having previously politely indicated that my children are well past the baby food stage so please don't send me this product anymore. When received yet again I responded nicely again indicating that I never promote food produced outside Australia so please remove me from this list. Not even two hours after receiving an email to confirm this would be done I received ANOTHER email from the PR person asking if I would like to be photographed for mainstream media with my children using the product.
DELETE.

A few weeks ago I got another email with an invitation to an event, it looked fun, but when I double checked the details I noticed it was in Sydney.

I was having a busy and stressful day and felt like replying with a big "Can you not read, I am in MELBOURNE!!!"

But I didn't, I replied with a response saying it looked like a great event, however I was unable to attend due to my location, but please consider me for any Melbourne based events.

I soon received a reply saying, no worries, we will fly you to Sydney for the event if you would like to come along.

Let me think - a day to myself in Sydney to look around the shops after a one hour PR gig to attend and eat wonderful food.

Yes Please.

Imagine if I had of lost my manners, not replied, hit delete etc. My poor manners would have cost me a wonderful day in Sydney, child free.

Manners may be free but they are totally worth it.