When you visit people, no matter how close you are to them, be sensitive and don’t do any of these things: 

1. Don’t walk into their house with your shoe unless they ask you to do so. It’s always more respectful to remove your shoes at the doorstep especially if you didn’t come with a car(if you must enter with your shoes, make sure you use the doormat correctly)

2. Don’t sit on the one-sitter sofa. In most houses, the one-sitter sofa is usually the favourite of the owner of the house. Instead, sit on the 3 sitters' sofa. 3 sitters are for everyone. 

3. Mind your leg. It’s very annoying to march on the seats of your host. Some of you are used to carelessly putting your foot on whatever chair you are sitting on. This is the most important of them all. Keep your foot on the floor or top of your other leg. If you don’t comfort yourself, don’t feel embarrassed if your host tells you to bring down your foot. If everyone marches on the chair that way, you would be the first to tell how dirty your host's sofas are. 

4. When they offer you bottled water, ask for a cup if you know that you won’t be able to finish the full bottle. If you drank directly from the bottle, ensure you leave with the remaining water. Don’t open, kiss, and leave the rest behind. No one would drink it and your host won’t be happy throwing it away. This one annoys me the most. I hate wasting water and food and it’s not about the money. Some people don’t have good water to drink or food to eat. 

5. If your host is a bachelor and you have access to his kitchen. Whatever you dirty in the kitchen, clean it up. Don’t mess up his kitchen and leave it behind like that. Who’s going to clean it? 

6. Whatever you touch, ensure you keep it the way it was. I don’t like my house being disorganized. Everything has its place. Don’t get over-familiar with your host and disrespect his or her house. Make your host want to have you around longer than wish you should leave immediately. This is one of the reasons why I live alone. I don’t want to come in and see the pillows of my chairs on the floor or the books on my bookshelf turned upside down. At least, not until I get married and have kids. 

7. Lastly, don’t make videos in people's private houses without their permission. A guy that used to live with me would wake up early in the morning and start video calls with people I don't know and even capture me on boxers. Ha! He would walk from one end of the house to another with his camera trying to impress his girls. Such madness. 

Be sensitive. Be mindful. Be composed. Don’t walk into people’s houses and forget yourself. Feeling at home doesn’t mean you should become a masquerade.

🙏🏾

Class dismissed 🍻

#etiquette