How to Make Good Manners Good Business

Hey, all you steamrollering titans and unpolished Internet start-up moguls, start practicing your “pleases” and “thank yous”--Emily Post is coming to a boardroom near you.

No, she’s not rising from the dead--although she is probably turning in her grave over the state of business etiquette these days.

The Emily Post Institute, a civility think tank founded in 1946, announced Thursday it will offer etiquette training in the workplace.

It’s about time. But talk about an uphill battle! The workplace has to be the most uncivil peacetime atmosphere around, second only perhaps to the kindergarten classroom. Whether it’s bad-mouthing, belittling or back-stabbing, chances are if you’ve ever been employed, you’ve experienced it.

The business etiquette seminars will be based on Peter and Peggy Post’s recent book, “The Etiquette Advantage in Business: Personal Skills for Professional Success,” and will allow companies to choose areas of focus: office gossip, dealing with difficult bosses, getting along in Cubicle Land.

“We have companies with a lot of sales reps who go out for business dinners, and they are worried about table manners,” said Emily Post Institute spokeswoman Elizabeth Howell.

She often is asked for tips on “how employers can treat the process of mergers and acquisitions with dignity” (e.g., how to fire someone politely).

Can it be done?

Howell suggests, “Be honest and upfront. Don’t let an employee find out through the rumor mill. Try to do it in your office, so the person you are firing has an easy out and can leave quickly if things get too emotional.”

Even if Emily Post herself fired me, I’m not sure it would ease the blow, but anyway . . . I asked Howell about her work environment, the Post Institute. Unlike most offices, it must be a veritable monument to civility.She said, “There are a lot of dogs, which surprises people.”

Then it’s not that different!

*

Sparkling Swarovski crystal bracelets were a hot accessory this holiday season, decorating wrists from coast to coast. On New Year’s Eve, I noticed something new: dazzling crystal tattoos adorning bare backs and shoulders. Swarovski’s crystal tattoo kits (about $18 at department stores) include glue to attach the dragonfly, flower or heart-shaped designs to skin.

*

Those longing to be tourists in their own city may find the new “Museums Los Angeles” guide a handy resource.

This is the first time the quarterly magazine is being published for Los Angeles. (New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., have had their own editions for six years.) Features include roundups of exhibitions and special museum events and specifics for each institution. Discount coupons (“member for a day” discounts, two-for-one admissions) could make the $4.95 cost of the guide a bargain.

The guide, published by Art Knowledge Corp., is available at newsstands and museum stores.

Booth Moore can be reached at booth.moore@latimes.com.