Communication Etiquette

One of the forms of etiquette stressed at the gym I go to is that when people finish using pieces of equipment, they should wipe them down. The thinking is this will reduce the amount of germs that spread from one person to another as well as help keep the equipment at least fairly clean. Without question this is a good idea and one, from what I observe, most gym rats follow. We are trying to use the gym with the intention of improving our overall health, so why not take this extra step to help ourselves as well as each other? It is interesting to compare this type of etiquette with communication. 


As living beings, there are no times when we are not communicating some form of message. Everything we say and do is interpreted by others as well as becomes part of their emotional and intellectual calculations as they move onto encounters with others. For example, if they observe us being rude to a cashier, then they may share this experience with another, decide to confront us about our behavior, or silently resolve not to be that way with persons with whom they interact. How and what we communicate is passed onto others. It has some level of impact that cannot be wiped away as one attempts to do at the gym.


There are few, if any, clean slates when it comes to communication. Even when we meet another for the first time, that person has already begun assessing us by the way we dress, our facial expression, the firmness of our handshake, etc. Then, as soon as we speak, their assessments only increase in intensity. Thus, while at the gym people ideally approach each piece of equipment with a clean slate, when it comes to encounters with others, at best, there are only evolving slates. Without question, this reality makes the act of communication all the more challenging as none of us want to give out messages that are misinterpreted.