Hey everyone, UK reader here and I just wanted to share this article: http://popbitch.com/articles/Profits_Of_Doom.html
It has a really unnecessarily obnoxious and condescending tone, but basically it's saying (and I don't know if this is actually true because I am no economist!) that increasing the DM's page views (eg by clicking on links to it) may actually decrease the profits they can make from advertising, because advertisers pay a rate that's based on thousands of page impressions, so more page impressions = more ad space, causing a surplus and driving their rates down.

Having said that I still don't feel comfortable ever going near that site because it is actually sickening - misogynistic, racist, homophobic flamebait. Maybe the worst part for me is how high the circulation is for the actual paper newspaper that people pay money for, and as someone mentioned, how entrenched that bigoted mindset seems to be among a lot of the UK population. Let's all try to educate a DM reader today?

YES. A THOUSAND TIMES YES.
(oops sorry for shouting!)

Focusing on the outcome is an excellent suggestion!

Also, I know it's kind of a joke that British people are super polite - I've actually never really experienced a big difference in politeness between us and of any of the other groups of English speakers (Americans, Canadians, Australians, NZers, SAers, etc) myself, although saying that I have never been to any of those places so my contact with those folks is limited.
But sometimes I do wonder about the number of times per day we, or specifically I, say 'sorry'. Does everyone do this, or are Brits the top sorry-sayers? We say it to get someone's attention, or if we want to get past them, or if we think they want to get past us: 'sorry for existing in the same space as you!' Today I said 'sorry' when I'd closed the fridge and then realised there was another person in the vicinity who might have wanted something from the fridge. He didn't. He was just walking past.

YOU ARE SO WISE. Seriously, I think I just did a bit of a Ted Theodore Logan face! I worry ALL THE TIME about whether people will think something awful about me, without ever really stopping to think 'wait... am I projecting wilfully irrational thoughts onto other people when I have no reason to think they are constantly Judgey McJudgersoning me and everyone else at every turn?'

Man, 'that's on them.' I love this advice! A sincere thanks!

AUGH, I don't think we have "bridal showers" in the UK (and bachelorette parties are called hen parties here!), but reading the comments about them, they sound just awful. Just... just awful.

Before I knew what one was, "shower" in this context just sounded really weird. A shower is where we wash. "Baby shower" still conjures up a great mental image of everyone just throwing loads of babies in the air at their pregnant friend, she's there with an umbrella...

Now I just want to start saying "you're well-COME!"

(NB no this is actually a totally fair point and I agree with you, just playing)

Hi! I love both the Toast and etiquette but I have never commented here before! I've been wondering recently about what to do when I get thanked in EMAIL form. My workplace is very polite (NB I am British), but also very email and instant-messaging focused when it comes to communications, partly because a lot of the time we are working with people in other studios all over the world - the people I work most closely with, day to day, are not physically around. And my job is sort of an assistant type role, so a lot of the time, I get asked to do something and then do it, because that is my job, and then I'll get an email that just says 'Thanks, Alice!' and I FREEZE UP, because WHAT DO YOU DO.

Like, someone mentioned above about the tone of 'you're welcome' being really important, and I worry that writing it down it might sounds sarcastic! And also, sometimes other people are CCed on these mails and what if it annoys them to get loads of mails which are essentially not very informative? And if I leave it unacknowledged is that terrible? I've even had ones where I started the thanking, and then the other person is like 'No, thank YOU' and then I'm like IS THIS A TEST. The circle of thanks.

Anyway, in these situations (work ones, where I haven't particularly gone above and beyond the call of duty or anything) generally my response is to say 'Don't worry about it!' or 'Any time!' or 'You're welcome!' only IF I can trust the recipient to not think I'm being passive aggressive. Or if I can morph it into yet another social interaction, to take the heat off the thanking thing - like 'No problem! Have a great weekend!' - then I do that too. A lot of thought goes into these things.