I have clients that are blunt, to the point, and value time extremely highly, and yet are extremely polite. In fact, a common factor across the clients I would

I have clients that are blunt, to the point, and value time extremely highly, and yet are extremely polite. In fact, a common factor across the clients I would consider to be rude is that they tend to use up disproportionate amounts of my time! It's perfectly possible to be brief, concise, and still make room for manners, and I appreciate anyone that does so. The clients I love most are the ones are considerate, and I think the rest of their behaviour comes from that: Communicating clearly and concisely, yet remaining polite, and valuing my time as well as theirs, are all things I think follow from being considerate. I think it's hard to argue that demanding everyone do things your way is considerate. To use your analogy, no, I don't expect the chef to argue with my choice. But if I order a particular cut one way, and the waiter comes back saying "Sir, the Chef highly recommends you instead have that particular cut with the such-and-such sauce" for example, then I might take that on board. And I might not. But to sit down at the table and state up-front that I want to hear no talking back from the chef before I place my order would certainly be rude, and possibly result in me having a lower quality meal due to my poor choice of sauce (and perhaps having another "sauce" added due to my loose tongue). Edit: There is some validity to using one-size-fits-all approaches particularly in some management situations I suppose (not so experienced in that area), but personally if I could decrease effeciency a little in order to remain polite, I would do so. I suspect a lot of the polarisation on the topic is due to this, as there's no real "right answer" there.