NYC Etiquette Guide

We were all raised to have manners. Our mamas taught us to say "yes ma'am", "no sir", "yes please", "thank you." I remember at a young age my mom teaching my brother to open doors for girls and to look at others in the eye when talking. I remember when I was about five years old, a stranger stopped my mom and me in a grocery store to compliment me. "You have the cutest blond curls," she told me. I responded as a typical kid, "I hate them." My mom lectured me the entire car ride home saying, "when someone compliments you, thank them and smile politely." I remember my mom explaining to me how I was rude to the woman in the store and next time I was to be thankful when someone goes out of their way to be kind.
These are basic manners we learn as kids and still use as adults.
Unfortunately, when you are an adult in New York City, the rules change. Yes, it is still polite to say please and thank you. But because NYC is so much different than most cities, we have additional rules that most outsiders have yet to learn.

Business Etiquette
1. Elevators - This is standard in ALL America. This is not a game of Mouse Trap. You will not get stuck in the elevator if you are not the first one off. Men should let women get on and off first.
2. Speaking of Elevators - talking on cell phones in them or loud music from your ipod is inappropriate.
3. Revolving doors - Men walk in the door first to make the second push easier for the girl. Also, only one person per divider. The door will not revolve when more than one person try to squeeze in a slot. It won't work, so stop trying.
4. Taxis - Men get in first so the girl doesn't have to crawl over the seat to slide over.

Street Etiquette
1. Side walks - We don't stop in the middle of them. Tourist like to stop, stare up, and take pictures..all on the busiest streets of Manhattan. People die this way. For your own good, go with the flow.
2. Umbrellas - This is a big one. Our streets barley fit all the people on them, let alone people and their umbrellas. When you must use an umbrella raise or lower it when you see a person coming. If you raise your umbrella higher, then the person approaching should lower. This avoids an umbrella collision and everyone getting wet. Golf umbrellas are unnecessary in the city. They take up the entire sidewalk leaving no room for anyone else's umbrella. Be courteous. Use small umbrellas and avoid accidents.
3. Sidewalk grates - these are the the grates built into the ground on every NY street. They are safe to walk on, but the holes create an obstacle for healed shoes. Men should always opt to walk on the grates so women's high heals don't get stuck in them.
4. Hailing taxis - if someone is hailing a taxi on the corner, that is their corner. They have claimed the next taxi that passes. You must change corners or wait until they are gone to claim the next taxi.
5. Personal space - for as small as Manhattan is, New Yorkers like their personal space (meaning the 5 inches of space that surrounds their body). Strangers should not invade this.

Subway Etiquette-
I believe the Urban Etiquette Handbook said it best:

Rules of the underground: (1) Knees may be no more than six inches apart. (2) If you can't control your offspring, watch as a stranger does it for you. (3) What did we say about checking out the girls? (4) The Post is only 25 cents—buy your own. (5) Holding the subway door makes everyone on the train love you. (6) As does loud music. (7) Lie down on subway only if dead.

The rules are simple and they help make this busy New York life a little easier. We all know not everyone will follow these rules. But clearly their mama didn't raise them right!