I don’t care how good you are at programming, finding bugs, whatever. If you’re rude, or if you speak poorly to people who don’t understand your… quirks…. you will wind up being shunted to the side. No one wants to work with someone who makes them feel beat down all the time, or someone who they simply can’t understand, or someone whose reaction to every issue is to start wailing about the end of the world.

– Catherine Powell (Via SvN)

This is such a great concept to keep at the front of one’s mind. Everyone, from your customers to your co-workers, family and friends, deserve your *niceness*. Their concerns and questions are real. Your attitude can go a long way toward keeping the peace!

Her follow-up post defining What Really Is Nice? also hits home for me:

To me, being nice is really about attitude and phrasing more than it is about the basic underlying message. It’s about taking the information you have to convey and making sure you convey it in a way that is respectful … and considerate of your audience.