Etiquette 2 | Tiffany Nielsen

What Would Charlene Say? Part 2: Three Habits for Gracious Living

May 11, 2014 By Tiffany Nielsen

Make Smiling a Daily Habit for Gracious Living.

Here’s Part 2 of the daily habit campaign that you will find super easy to accomplish before the day is up!

Fill yourself with happiness when people display this habit. Appreciation for your act of kindness and civility will not go unnoticed. Be well aware of those who don’t partake. The 2nd best daily habit is…..

Smile! Smiling doesn’t come easy to some folks, but it did for Charlene! She woke up with a smile, she slept with a smile. She made the miserable people smile even when they didn’t want to. Smiling at those who annoyed or troubled her was also commonplace. “People, how hard is it to smile? Gosh”, says Charlene. It takes more muscles to frown than smile.

Job interview etiquette tip: A person is required to smile.
Customer service etiquette: Clients and colleagues like seeing smiles.
When you are introduced to people, the proper etiquette is to smile and converse.
Children who smile demonstrate their good manners.

Do you have your own technique for helping people smile? Is it a song and dance? A tug at the check? Please share your wisdom in the comment section below because it will make Charlene smile!

If you please, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and register for our announcements so you don’t miss out on our fun events!

Happy Smiling!

Tiffany Nielsen, Founder and CEO of Premier Etiquette, is your favorite Etiquette Lady and Personal Stylist. She lives in Exeter, CA with her husband, David and travels nationwide representing ideas and strategies to help solve social and business faux pas. You can attend Tiffany’s upcoming program, Mother May I on May 27 and 28^th from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. at Brandman University in Visalia, CA or in Bakersfield. The program cost is $34.00.

What Would Charlene Say? Part 1: Three Habits for Gracious Living

May 10, 2014 By Tiffany Nielsen

Charlene Nielsen and her family. Gracious woman, editor and our #1 Fan at Premier Etiquette.

Charlene Nielsen, my beloved Mother-in-Law, Editor and Board Member here at Premier Etiquette, joined the angels in heaven on May 4, 2014 If I were to ask mom what we can do today to feel better about our situation, she’d recommend the following daily habits, which I would like to share with you over the next three days leading up to her celebration of life service.

Part 1

Get Dressed. In spite of a bald head, pale skin and being at war with the gremlins (as we called them), mom got dressed every day. She styled her hair and wigs and she never left her house looking as if she just rolled out of bed. “Get up, get dressed! You never know who you might meet!” says Charlene. I’d like to add that pajamas are made for bedtime, not for wearing out in public.

To quote mom…

“The hardest lesson to learn is self-discipline”
– Charlene Brooks Nielsen, Author, Editor and Woman of the Year.

Are you getting dressed each morning? If not, are you open to learning about a few simply ways to transform into a habitual pro at dressing for your day? If the answer is “yes”, we should talk! 🙂

Tea Etiquette

February 8, 2013 By Tiffany Nielsen

Tea According to www.gone-ta-pott.com tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world! Is coffee or water first? I am not sure. January was National Hot Tea month, but rest assured tea is a consumable beverage year round. At least it is in my house.

Here’s a little something most people don’t know about me. I have yet to drink an entire cup of coffee. Yup, that’s right! I’ve sipped it, and with puckered lips, I put the coffee right back down and say, “I can’t do it.” You can’t image how saddened I was while in Italy in May of 2012, I couldn’t finish an Italian cappuccino. I tried! I am told that the best cappuccinos in the world are made in Italy, and I wimped out. For a half-Italian woman like myself, I feel as if I have let my motherland country down. Thankfully, my Northern Ireland grandparents introduced me to tea.

While in Ireland in 2003, I was further introduced to Barry’s Tea, and consumed more of that tea that I ever thought possible. Last I checked, World Market stocked Barry’s Tea. Personally, I bounce between Chinese green tea, Ceylon and blended black teas like Earl Grey. I hear Queen Elizabeth II drinks Earl Grey too.

I will host a tea etiquette and manners class someday, because I’m absolutely enthralled by tea culture. From the history of tea, to tea times, to tea varieties and etiquette, spreading the art of tea to fellow aficionados sounds like a really good time. While you wait for me to post a tea etiquette program on www.tiffanynielsen.com, here are a few of my favorite tea etiquette tips:

1. Formally speaking, tea is usually reserved for four o’clock. Depending on where we live or where we travel too, one and five o’clock also serves well for tea time. Frankly, I prefer to have my tea between 8 and 9 am every morning, otherwise I might reach for a soft drink to help wake me up!

2. Clinking and clanking the spoon against a tea cup makes for unnecessary noise. Back and forth, in the center of the cup, move the spoon in a small semicircle like fashion.

3. Filling the cup to the brim leaves no room for milk and sugar. Leave a little room at the top to avoid spillage.

4. Pour your tea first. Then add your milk. Too much milk will take away from the flavor of the tea.

pinky

5. There is no need to extend your pinky when drinking tea from a tea cup. Personally, I think the pinky finger naturally extends, because the tea cup handle is sometimes small, making it difficult to grasp it without twitching the pinky outward. If you find your pinky waving at your neighbor, tuck it back in and carry on.

If you would like to join me for an Afternoon or Full Tea etiquette class, please let me know by writing “Yes, please invite me, Tiffany!!!” in the comments section below. I will round up my tea pots and cups and wash the china and serving pieces while I await your RSVP.

Graciously Yours,

Tiffany

October is National Bullying Prevention Month

October 14, 2012 By Tiffany Nielsen

The Power of Civility Bullying doesn’t have a place in our society or our home, and it serves no purpose. Yet, surveys indicate that bullying is forever present, especially amongst the youth. According to PACER.org, nearly one-third of all school-aged children are bullied each year – upwards of 13 million students.

As I always say, civility starts and ends with the individual. It also starts with groups of people uniting together such as PACER- Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights. In fact, these smart folks are behind the growing and popular “October is National Bullying Prevention Month”. Bravo! In my opinion, teaching bullying prevention in schools is as critical as teaching math and science.

We personally can prompt change if we choose civility in every sticky situation. It takes work, peer involvement and a zero tolerance policy to end bullying. One significant personal effort by Rachel Scott to reach out to students who were picked on by others or who were new at her school resulted in Rachel’s Challenge. This series of student empowering programs and strategies for students and adults to combat bullying was inspired by the first student killed at Columbine High School in 1999. Shortly before her death she wrote,

“I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.” – rachelschallege.org

I’m often reminded that bullies come in all walks of life. They can be the obvious punk who’s in your face or the seemingly intelligent adult who will verbally beat people down because of his or her own shortcomings. Bullies are not gender specific. They are from both sides of the tracks and just maybe they were bullied themselves. Sad.

The reason I left my corporate career to speak about consideration, respect and honesty and manners includes being personally bullied in the workplace and in high school. I’m a firm believer that the principles of etiquette are some of the several time tested compasses for stomping out bulling in the school yard, in the halls of government and in business.

PACER and Rachel’s Challenge offer inspiration and resources you can use to help ignite an anti-bullying program at home, school and elsewhere. Bullying happens, but we can stop it by educating ourselves on how to communicate, address it and end it, period.

Choose civility.

What Happened to Tiffany?

August 8, 2012 By Tiffany Nielsen

This past week I received a phone call from a friend and loyal Premier Etiquette fan. She expressed how excited she was to see my recent email announcing our upcoming communication and etiquette skills class. I always get a warm feeling knowing people do read my emails. Don’t you?

She then told me that in the midst of reading my email, her excitement turned to puzzlement. She said to herself, “What? That’s it? One class announcement? No etiquette tips? No Fall fashion preview? Oh no, what happened to Tiffany? I’d better call her.”

I couldn’t have a better friend looking out for my best interests. We should all be so diligent as to find out what might be happening with a friend when something doesn’t seem right. She trusted her instincts and called me. I’m choosing to share this with you because perhaps you also have wondered, “What happened to Tiffany?” or “That’s it?” when you opened my last email. Let me explain.

This won’t come easy to me since I’ve been schooled to leave personal business at the company door. Rather, stick to positive subjects when sharing out-of-office happenings with business associates and clients. Nevertheless, here we go.

I don’t get by on luck. I achieve success through the help of a very strong, loyal team who has my back. We, the team, see ourselves as well armed soldiers fighting for the common good: stellar etiquette practices by all! When I found out that Charlene Nielsen, my Premier Etiquette In-House Editor, also known as my wonderful mother-in-law, was diagnosed with stage 4 small cell lung cancer in May, we all put on the brakes to help her.

Premier Etiquette Editor and Mommy-in-Law

Chasing doctors and appointments became our first and foremost task. Poise and persistence ruled as others were dropping the ball and prolonging her treatment plan. At last, chemotherapy was put into action and she finished her first round last week. It took us over two months to make the reality of treatment possible; it has been a grueling and frustrating experience. At the same time, we were blessed to witness her tenacious spirit rise again. Some of you have had the opportunity to meet Charlene at events where I have spoken. You know her spirit and you can count on the fact that she remembers you!

So, now you know where I, Tiffany, have been. I haven’t given up on my work to rid the world of bad manners, nor have I stopped sprinkling etiquette dust on those who want the positive power of etiquette in business and elsewhere. I’ve simply been lending my heart and dedication to a much deserving loyal subject.

Thank you for your patience and assumed appreciation for our journey here at Premier Etiquette. On the bright side, the power of positive thinking has us all on the right track. I’m pretty sure every one of you reading my letter has been touched by cancer. The fight to beat it is unreal, cumbersome and it takes a team to battle it out. So, if a little bit of time passes and you haven’t heard from me, have faith that I’m here for you too and I will soon surface again. If I don’t, for heaven’s sake, call me!

Your Loyal Etiquette Soldier,

Tiffany

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