102
A cool guide to everyday etiquette no one teaches you
(thelemmy.club)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
102 points (69.0% liked)
Cool Guides
6253 readers
90 users here now
Rules for Posting Guides on Our Community
1. Defining a Guide Guides are comprehensive reference materials, how-tos, or comparison tables. A guide must be well-organized both in content and layout. Information should be easily accessible without unnecessary navigation. Guides can include flowcharts, step-by-step instructions, or visual references that compare different elements side by side.
2. Infographic Guidelines Infographics are permitted if they are educational and informative. They should aim to convey complex information visually and clearly. However, infographics that primarily serve as visual essays without structured guidance will be subject to removal.
3. Grey Area Moderators may use discretion when deciding to remove posts. If in doubt, message us or use downvotes for content you find inappropriate.
4. Source Attribution If you know the original source of a guide, share it in the comments to credit the creators.
5. Diverse Content To keep our community engaging, avoid saturating the feed with similar topics. Excessive posts on a single topic may be moderated to maintain diversity.
6. Verify in Comments Always check the comments for additional insights or corrections. Moderators rely on community expertise for accuracy.
Community Guidelines
-
Direct Image Links Only Only direct links to .png, .jpg, and .jpeg image formats are permitted.
-
Educational Infographics Only Infographics must aim to educate and inform with structured content. Purely narrative or non-informative infographics may be removed.
-
Serious Guides Only Nonserious or comedy-based guides will be removed.
-
No Harmful Content Guides promoting dangerous or harmful activities/materials will be removed. This includes content intended to cause harm to others.
By following these rules, we can maintain a diverse and informative community. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the moderators. Thank you for contributing responsibly!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Not disagreeing with what you’re saying here but it seems to assume that everyone is able to understand unspoken etiquette, which unfortunately isn’t the case.
For example, for myself, I hadn’t ever learned about a bunch of these (such as the waiting for other people to exit the elevator/doorway before entering, as well as the acknowledging staff one,) since I barely see them in action nor really concentrate deliberately on them, and it doesn’t help the fact I’m quite likely autistic.
Frankly, it’d be great if I was sat down and told about each of these things early on, it would’ve saved me from many years of confusion, conflict and anxiety, and it would’ve prevented me from thinking the reason I don’t fit in is exclusively my fault and I should pay for it.
I frankly don't believe that this guide alone would have solved as many issues for you as it would also cause. What is presented as universal wisdom is never that simple. The "nobody taught you" aspect is not universally true. I counted ten items in the list I was taught in school or by my parents. I'm not the center of the universe but we can extrapolate that some people have been taught some of these things in some setting. So there is already a mistake in the headline.
This "cool guide" is either redundant (letting people exit a place or the elevator first are roughly the same thing) or not specific enough (letting people exit buses and trains etc. before you enter is missing). You should also offer your chair or seat to those who need it more than you (e.g. pregnant, old, or injured people). You don't have to offer a replacement date if you cancel an appointment if you canceled in the first place because you don't want to hang out with an asshole. You don't need to clean up a mess you made while running outside while the house is on fire. There will be instances where you don't need to return a borrowed item in the same or better condition than when you borrowed it. If I lended you my dirty lawnmower I would not expect you to clean it or sharpen its blades before you returned it. The additional wear and tear is factored in already.
This poster gives the impression to contain simple, universal, virtuous truths. But none of them are always simple or always logical. They are at best a patchy guideline missing even more unarticulated conditions and exceptions that render them useless. And if you aren't aware of the missing bits, you'll still have awkward social interactions.
My suspicion is that somebody created a list of things they thought was the epitome of wisdom in general social interactions, in the US and not in a city with public transport options. They possibly used so-called AI to compile this list. It's even more likely that they used it to design the poster and to draw the little pictures. And then posted it online to be praised for their effort (don't aura farm ought to be a bullet point on this poster as well). It deserves to be criticized.