COLOMBO : On top of having to wash your hands a million times a day and having to remember to sneeze into your elbows, we now want to talk about COVID-19 etiquette? Are we insane? No! The health services issue warning after warning and prescribe better lifestyles to follow. This is to help alleviate the problems caused by the kindhearted yet oblivious and the completely oblivious and nonchalant. They come in to stores and brush against you, they yank their mask off to respond to you, they want to share their food with you and some even want to shake hands. Some of these actions may look friendly, but here is the new version of friendliness and etiquette in the wake of COVID-19.
- Wear a Mask Everywhere You Go
Well, if you are under lockdown or curfew, you should not be out and about. However, even if you do need to badly step outside to knock on your neighbour’s door, please do wear your mask. Other people may not appreciate a potential COVID-19 spreader at their door. Don’t take offence over it either; all of us are equally likely to carry and catch it. Everyone must take one’s own precautions.
- Don’t Shake Hands
Well, yes, until COVID-19 leaves us alone, we should not shake hands. These instructions need to be more painful for me to give than for you to follow since it contradicts most of what I have written previously. Anyway, resort to the Sri Lankan method of clasping both hands together and saying ‘Ayubowan’, waving along with a ‘hi’ or simply nodding your head as your smile will not be visible under your mask.
- Disinfect but Don’t Take Offence
Some people may offer a bottle of sanitizer or a wet wipe as they see you. This is as a precaution and let’s say that they are ‘proactively’ doing their part as a good citizen. This does not imply that you are dirty, but that both you and s/he should be safe. So, disinfect yourself immediately. There is nothing called ‘too clean’ nowadays. If you resist, you will only look foolish with all the health warnings that are being issued.
- Discuss Over the Phone
If there is an issue, it is best addressed in person, right? Wrong! At least until COVID-19 is over, it is wrong. One thing is that you would have to shout your problems out across more than one meter, which can be embarrassing for everyone and the other thing is that you should probably not have got together in the first place. Pick the phone up, ask whether the other person is free, ask him/her to move to a place where s/he has privacy and have the call. If you think it will help, have even a video call and resolve the issue. Surely, you can put it behind yourself – the world is fighting a deadly virus.
- Don’t be Pushy
In an effort to help, don’t go overboard and make people uncomfortable about it. Before you cook a meal and invite people over, before you knock on your neighbour’s door to offer a slice of freshly baked cake or before you offer to drive your friend to the supermarket, think whether they would be worried about such social contact. Even if it is your ‘best-est’ buddy, s/he may be wary for his/her own reasons. They may be worried about infecting you or maybe they see you as careless, which you would be if you are pushy or negligent in these circumstances.
The world has enough problems to deal with and putting up with personal egos is not a priority at this point, However, your safety is important for you, your family, and your loved ones. Revise your etiquette to suit COVID-19 and stay safe. Do your part to flatten the curve and let the world get back to normalcy soon.
Till I return with full of etiquettes next week, stay safe!
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Praveeni Jayasekera is the Founder and Editor of fullofetiquette.com; she is a regular advocate on the subject. She is an ACMA, CGMA; holds a BSc. Economics and Management; PG in IT and Diploma in Social Sciences. She is employed full time in the capacity of Chief Operating Officer at CL Synergy (Private) Limited; a Sri Lankan freight forwarding company. She is an ardent fan of the written word and has compiled content for numerous websites for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes, corporate profiles and blogs. She has experience in training corporate professionals on customer service and business etiquette. She conducts coaching sessions on etiquette for school children every now and then.
