Packer - How rude!: the teen guide to good manners, proper behavior, and not grossing people out

Praise for the previous edition of How Rude!

A Book for the Teen AgeNew York Public Library

A Quick Pick selectionAmerican Library Association

A Read, America! Classic selection

This is one fast-paced, fun-to-read book that covers the basics of good behavior for teens. But before you dismiss it with a roll of your eyes and a huge yawn (now thats rude!), just one look at the table of contents will convince you that this isnt your grandmas guidebook. This is a wonderfully hip and humorous, easy read! College Bound Magazine

Covers everything from table manners to hygiene, handling friendship problems politely, thank-you notes, flaming online, and manners around the house. KLIATT

From its intriguing title to the tongue-in-cheek ideas for dealing with many kinds of situations, readers will find this manual humorous, nonthreatening, entertaining, and educational. You will return to it again and again. School Library Journal

How Rude! offers surprisingly simple ways for teens to respond to and interact with people to get the best results in todays world. It shows that if wed all follow a few simple, common-sense rules, the world would be a far better place. Youthworker

Text copyright 2014, 1997 by Alex J. Packer, Ph.D.

Illustrations 2014, 1997 by Free Spirit Publishing Inc.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Unless otherwise noted, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations or critical reviews. For more information, go to www.freespirit.com/company/permissions.cfm.

Free Spirit, Free Spirit Publishing, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Free Spirit Publishing Inc. A complete listing of our logos and trademarks is available at www.freespirit.com.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Packer, Alex J.

How rude! : the teen guide to good manners, proper behavior, and not grossing people out / by Alex J. Packer, Ph.D. Revised and updated edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-57542-454-5 ISBN 1-57542-454-1 1. Etiquette for children and teenagers. I. Title.

ePub ISBN: 978-1-57542-536-8

Free Spirit Publishing does not have control over or assume responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.

Permission is granted for individual readers, parents, and teachers to reproduce the pages included in the List of Reproducible Pages (page x) for personal, home, classroom, or group work only. Other reproduction of these materials for an entire school or school system is strictly forbidden. For more information, go to www.freespirit.com/company/permissions.cfm.

Reading Level High SchoolAdult; Interest Level Ages 13 & Up; Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level Z+

Edited by Pamela Espeland and Darsi Dreyer

Cover and interior design by Tasha Kenyon
Illustrations by Jeff Tolbert

Free Spirit Publishing Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 338-2068
www.freespirit.com

Free Spirit offers competitive pricing.
Contact for pricing information on multiple quantity purchases.

For Janet...
... who, except for call waiting, is impeccably polite.

Even if it werent the polite thing to do, I would still want to thank the following individuals whose advice, support, and expertise were essential to the creation and/or revision of this book.

J oel Anderson, Melissa Banta, Susan Banta, Tim Braine, Angel Coln, Patricia Coln, Adrienne Covington, Shelley Cross, Ida Del Vecchio, Launa Ellison, Bruce Embry, Keith Evans, the teachers of FCD Educational Services, Betsy Gabler, Jay Gabler, Richard V. Goodwin, Eric Grunebaum, Stephen Gustin, Sue Hallowell, Jan Hassan, Ross Herbertson, John Houchin, Aaron Hubbard, Norman Jenkins, Sharon Johnson, Paul Jordan, Midge Kimball, Suzanne Laberge, Alejandro Lobo, Reina OHale, John Packard, Janet Packer, Brian Ogden, Sandi Pei, Nancy Robinson, Amy Rotenberg, Mark Rotenberg, Efrem Seeger, Maurice Soulis, Renee Soulis, Charles L. Terry III, Desirae Vasquez, Craig Vezina, and Ned Vizzini, who left us so much, and left us too soon, for their advice, encouragement, and help in distributing surveys;

The hundreds of teenagers, parents, counselors, and educators who participated in my surveys;

Mindy Anderson, Jay Gabler, Ollie Hallowell, Ollie Hallowell Productions, John Houchin, Jonah Klevesahl, Monica Longe, Greg Nadeau, Kerri Nadeau, Max Nadeau, Ellen Paquet, Gabrielle Scott, Jill Thunborg, Teja Upadhyaya, David Waterman, Zo Wentzel, Jessica Wilber, and the Free Spirit Teen Advisory Council for reading and commenting on the manuscript;

Toyla Ashe, Adriana Banta, Gabrielle Banta, Max Banta, Sophia Banta, Alex Herdman, and Patrick Kinsey for their invaluable advicewithout rolling any eyeballson teenage computer, smartphone, and social media use and terminology. (Example: Me: Do you guys use the expression booting up? Blank stares. You know, when you turn on your computers. Blank stares. Well, what word do you use for when you turn on your tablets or smartphones? Pause. We never turn them off. Oh.)

Kim Armstrong, formerly with the Killington Ski Resort in Killington, Vermont, for her help with slopeside courtesies;

The dudes at the legendary Maximus Skatepark in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for their thoughts on and demonstrations of skateboard etiquette;

The Inline Club of Boston for tips on skating etiquette;

Arthur Kinsman, former director of public, government and community relations, American Automobile Association, Massachusetts, for AAA safety advice and rules of the road;

Daniel Vest and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for suggestions and research data relating to bigotry and homophobia;

Debbie Fiore at the Federation for Children with Special Needs; Brad Pearson, advocate, Massachusetts Office on Disability; Jody Williams, abuse prevention project coordinator, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission; and the Massachusetts Association for the Blind for providing information on interacting with people with disabilities;

The Authors Guild for their tireless efforts on behalf of writers;

My agents Gail Ross and Howard Yoon of the Ross Yoon Agency for their advice, support, and generosity;

Darsi Dreyer, Lauren Ernt, Sara Hartman, Steven Hauge, Heidi Hogg, Tasha Kenyon, Lisa Leonard, Julie Smith, Anastasia Scott, Elizabeth Verdick, and the staff of Free Spirit Publishing for their enthusiasm, responsiveness, and unswerving professionalism;

Judy Galbraith, president of Free Spirit Publishing, for her courage and imagination as a publisher, and her encouragement and good humor as a friend;

Pamela Espeland for her brilliance and creativity as an editor; for putting up with my authorial moods and bad jokes; for keeping me within the bounds of good taste (or at least trying to); and for the respect and repartee that made the process of creating the first edition of the book so stimulating and enjoyable;

And finally, I wish to thank the countless individuals whose ill-mannered, disgusting, boorish, vulgar, selfish, and arrogant behaviors kept me inspired and motivated throughout the course of this project.