An act of respect or politeness, something which is sorely lacking in today’s society. Within the younger generation, there is an extremely strong sense which prevails, namely an acute sense of entitlement, and with this, an idea that they are above manners and good behaviour. Brought up in a time where everything is about money, fame, and image, there is a belief that if one drives the right car, wears the right ‘it’ purse, and sunglasses, with an attitude, then one must deserve the ‘good life’ . Interestingly enough, contrary to what one reads in the trendy magazines, the loud, arrogant behaviour that one encounters daily, regardless of where it is, restaurant, club, shop, good manners are in fact alive and thriving, and as in times past, a regular item among the quiet rich.

For those of you who haven’t quite understood exactly what it is that is in the above paragraph, let me put it into the simplest of terms for you. Good manners are always in fashion, bad manners are not. About a year ago, I coined the phrase’ the bigger the strut, the bigger the loser’ , with that, the bigger the bragger, the bigger the loser. If one has to be always self-promoting, instead of allowing others to do it for you, then something is wrong.

People who are seriously successful and rich have nothing to prove to themselves or any one else, tend to be quiet, polite, discreet, self-effacing individuals.

When one travels and meets interesting people all over the world, and meets some extraordinary people, I can certainly attest to the fact that those who are generally the quietest and most self-effacing, possible with older clothes which are not fashionable, can probably buy out everyone there before they eat breakfast. It is usually the loud lout shrieking for service and carrying on like a bully with the wait staff who has nothing.

A few years ago in London, I was at the divine Nobu in the Metropolitan Hotel eating with the Managing Director and a couple of friends. One well known bachelor about town who is known for his bad behaviour was there, and act up he did. At one point, in a restaurant full of patrons, he started shrieking at the waiter about the appalling service he was receiving, frankly the service there is excellent, the restaurant was full. He threw a temper tantrum and with one sweep of his arm, swept all the dishes from the table onto the floor. Everyone in the restaurant was horrified. Somehow, he actually that behaving badly would elicit better service. He has been banned from the restaurant and from what I understand, several hotels in London for the same behaviour. There is nothing worse than a bully.

If you are out and hear a well dressed woman or man apologise for what is categorised as normal behaviour, you can probably make the assumption that they are excruciatingly rich and well brought up. It is only the poor and arrogant who behave badly.

Take heed, the successful quiet ones are watching you carefully, they may accept the cheque from the nouveau riche social climbing boor for their charity event, they may even put them at a relatively prominent table, but that individual will never set foot in the homes of those they aspire to socialise with, and that, dear readers, is what separates the truly successful from the ‘parvenus’.

So, next time you think you are impressing someone with an expansive show of bad manners, remember, you never know who is watching.