True courtesy involves being aware not only of the perspective of others but also their feelings. It is merely politeness and mechanical insertions of “please” and “thank-you”.
Courtesy comprises of the following points
a. Being sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative
- Tact: Though few people are intentionally waiting for someone to argue, so being tactful avoids any cause of discourtesy and avoiding any negative feedback from the sender. Example: “Clearly, you did not read my latest fax” can be written as “Sometimes my wordings are not precise; let me try again”.
- Thoughtfulness and Appreciation: It means bringing a thought in the entire conversation and appreciating the reply from the other party.
No reader wants to receive message that offends. This can be done by eliminating irritating expressions and Questionable humor because humor to one person may be disgust for another as everyone has different sense of humor.
c. Choose nondiscriminatory expressions
Another requirement for courtesy is the use of nondiscriminatory language that reflects equal treatment of people regardless of their gender, race, age and physical features. Some of the examples are given below:
Situation 1
- Questionable: Each customer will have the new changes noted on his bill.
- More desirable: Customers will have the changes noted on their bill.
- Questionable: Our criteria are firm; he is to be a scholar, he is to be a good teacher.
- More desirable: Our criteria suggest he or she is supposed to be a scholar and a good teacher.
