A while back, I received an invitation via Facebook to join a new networking group that is being organized by someone local to me who owns a marketing company (yes, that technically makes her a competitor).

I was tempted to attend the inaugural meeting. After all, you never know which networking opportunities can be beneficial if you don’t try them out.

My hesitation, and what ultimately cinched my decision not to attend, was the poor English in that event’s Facebook page. Typos, poor grammar, incorrect verb/noun matching…it made me cringe with how unprofessional it looked.

Furthermore, I’ve been to the company website for this group's founder and it, too, was riddled with typos (a marketing company that misspelled “brochure”?) and less than stellar English usage.

This could be a great event. I, however, prefer to have my business associated with organizations that uphold the same level of professionalism that I try to attain and uphold.

Yes, we all make mistakes; but isn't part of being a professional checking our work and making sure that we're putting our best foot forward? Have we, as a society, adopted a lackadaisical attitude in the way we present ourselves in business situation?

When did it become acceptable to use a Chamber networking event as an excuse to get drunk?

When did spell check become a nasty phrase?

Why are poor grammar and typos acceptable if we’re sending messages from our phones? (I hate those “Please excuse any typos. This was sent from my xxx phone.”)

Maybe I’m all alone up here on my little soapbox, but I think that our business demeanor should be professional – from appropriate dress to proper grammar to good phone etiquette and more. Sure, inject humor and your own personality into it, but keep it clean, appropriate and business-like.

Am I all alone up here on this soapbox?