{"id":9170,"date":"2012-12-06T04:50:40","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T04:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2012\/12\/06\/be-gracious\/"},"modified":"2012-12-06T04:50:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T04:50:40","slug":"be-gracious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2012\/12\/06\/be-gracious\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Gracious"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does someone want to do something for you? Buy you lunch?  Give you a gift?  Bring something to the dinner?  <\/span><\/p>\n

Be gracious.  Don't say, "You don't have to buy me lunch,"  or "Let me buy you<\/em> lunch," or "You didn't have to bring that."  Humbly accept and grant the donor the pleasure of being a donor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lack of graciousness often bespeaks an excess of ego.<\/span><\/p>\n

We were re-hydrating at a bar in Tortilla Flat, Arizona, after an ankle-busting hike up a stream bed.  I offered to buy Alex a drink.  Instead of graciously accepting my hospitality, he had the chutzpah to ask me to lend him<\/em> money so that he could buy me<\/em> a drink!<\/span><\/p>\n

Another type of ungraciousness is replying 'Thank you' to 'Thank you.'  If I thank you for something, say 'You're welcome,' not 'Thank You.'  Graciously acquiesce in the fact that I have done you a favor.  Don't try to get the upper hand by thanking me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I grant that there are situations in which mutual thanking is appropriate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people feel that they must 'reciprocate.'  Why exactly?  I gave you a little Christmas present because I felt like it.  And now you feel you must give me one in return?  Is this a tit for tat game?  <\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose I compliment you sincerely.  Will you throw the compliment back in my face by denigrating that which I complimented you for, thereby impugning my judgment?<\/span><\/p>\n

Related entry: On Applauding While Being Applauded<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does someone want to do something for you? Buy you lunch?  Give you a gift?  Bring something to the dinner?  Be gracious.  Don't say, "You don't have to buy me lunch,"  or "Let me buy you lunch," or "You didn't have to bring that."  Humbly accept and grant the donor the pleasure of being a … Continue reading “Be Gracious”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,407,221,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-predicament","category-manners-and-mores","category-psychology-and-personality-typology","category-sage-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}