We’ve all been rude a time or two, interrupted someone speaking, even looked bored during a conversation. While most of us have lapses of manners, there are some that seem to never have learned any.

I came across a witty article today on CNN.com called the Six Examples of Workplace Rudeness. No. 1? You guessed it—interrupting. For a self-storage manager, this poses a problem. You could be talking with a tenant when the phone rings. You can’t simply let it ring, so an interruption is warranted. But interrupting a prospective tenant outlining his needs with your sales pitch is just rude. Instead, listen to his needs, then launch into your pitch. For more on listening, check out this article from the ISS archives, Getting Inside Your Customer’s Mind.  

One other example of workplace rudeness I’d like to point out is the simple “please” and “thank you.” As children, we’re programmed to use these words a gazillion times a day. But somehow over the years our please and thanks yous became fewer and far between.

According to 2002 Public Agenda survey, 48 percent of adults said they “sometimes” encountered people who made the effort to say please and thank you; 16 percent said they saw such behavior “practically never.”

Don’t be the manager who never says these words. Recall mom’s toddler-training days and put those two phrases back into your daily vocab. For example, instead of telling a new tenant, “sign here” during the contract signing, try adding a please in front of that. “Can you please sign here?” You can’t imagine how far a sincere please or thank you can make a person feel in our gotta-have-it-now life styles.

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