I Love Oregon Wine Blog

06/23/2006 - Manners

Don’t leave your manners at home when you go on vacation. 

I know it is certainly summer.  Customers are following me through the door when I open at 10 AM.  Many of them leave their jobs and troubles at home.  Others bring their jobs with them and think it is perfectly fine to hold lengthy business conversations on their cell phone in the midst of my store.  I say something like “the reception is clearer on the deck” and if they just don’t get it, I have to follow up with “please go outside.”  Talking about wine when you’re talking about your non-wine job is just no fun to me or the rest of my customers.

And about those habits of saying please and thank you.  Those are good things you should do all your life.  Your mother would be proud, and you’ll find you get treated nicer.

Today a lady stomped up to the counter and announced, “I’ll taste the cranberry wine now.”  I kept on drying glasses and working behind the counter quietly, and then she added the magic word, “please.”  I smiled sweetly and poured her a taste.

And there are these people that only have one wine on their mind.  They look at me with incredulous expressions as if I’m from another planet when I say no, I don’t carry that particular wine.  They refuse to consider any other wine, despite the numerous excellent wines (more than 350 in number) in stock.  And I wonder, is this the only wine they’ve ever tried?  And are they still eating the same meals every day, refusing to explore anything new?  Do they wear the same brown slacks every day?  Read the same book over and over?  Goodness, get a life.  Take a walk on the wild side and try a new wine.