Listening to and Talking to Adults
You are going to have to talk to adults - whether they're your teachers, your parents, your coaches, or the people who run the cash registers at the grocery store. There's no way you can avoid it. But if you're going to have to talk to them, you will need to learn to listen to them, too. Nothing makes adults angrier than trying to talk to a young guy who is so caught up with his video game or his iPod that they can't even get his attention. (Well, actually one thing does make them angrier: a young guy who responds to every question by saying, "Huh?" or "What?" or "Nope.")
A gentleman knows if he actually has time for a full scale conversation. If he is on a deadline for a paper that is due the next day, it's OK for him to say, "Can we talk about this later? I'm way behind on this paper." Watching the same movie for the seventeenth time in a row is not a good excuse for ignoring your grandmother. A gentleman turns off the television and talks to his grandma.
Adults aren't always trying to give you orders and make your life harder. Sometimes they're trying to do something nice for you or offer you some help. That's why it's important to learn to listen.
excerpt from: 50 Things Every Young Gentleman Should Know
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