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You can make a million dollars, call your mother every day, pick up other people's litter and spend your Christmas vacation clanging a bell for the Salvation Army. Go ahead and make one slip-up in the manners department, however, and your date will instantly label you a cretin at best, a cad at worst.

They say that manners are the glue that holds society -- not to mention many relationships -- together. Problem is, modern society has run amok with new ways to communicate and shifting roles for men and women. This leaves us many opportunities to mess up royally. So how to behave these days? Following are 20 potentially awkward social situations and how to deal. Now you have no excuse to be a cad.

Following are 20 potentially awkward social situations and how to deal, according to our hand-picked etiquette experts (meaning, far more reliable than your football buddies): Peter Post, author of Essential Manners for Men; Melissa Kirsch, author of The Girl's Guide to Absolutely Everything; and Naomi Paulson, founder of The Etiquette School. Now you have no excuse to be a cad.

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Modern-Day Etiquette
Is it ever OK to break up with your girlfriend over the phone? Click here to find out, plus 19 other tips for making it through modern-day etiquette.
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Man's Guide to Modern-Day Etiquette

Mans Guide to Modern-Day Etiquette

    1. Should a man open the car door for a woman when she enters/exits a car/cab?

    "This is a nice touch, chivalrous but not necessary," says Kirsch. Post again advises that you ask first, so she has a chance to open the door for herself if she so chooses. No need to do so if you're just pulling over to let her out curbside, when exiting your own door would put you in the middle of traffic.

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    2. Can you ask out a woman over the phone/email/text/IM?

    "Certainly over the phone, yes," says Post. Email, text or IM might work, if the two of you have a history of communicating via such medium and feel comfortable doing so. A good rule of thumb, says Kirsch, is that "no conversation of emotional import should ever be carried out over any medium that doesn't permit the interlocutors to detect tone of voice." Translation: Phone is best.

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    3. Can you cancel dates over phone/email/text/IM?

    As with asking for a date, canceling is most respectfully done by phone, but "if you're going into a meeting or something like that, it's understandable that you might not be able to make a call," says Post. What's more important than how you say it is what you say. "You should immediately set another date in order to assure your good intentions," advises Paulson. Adds Post, "If you do cancel without speaking, tell her in your message when you will be able to next call, and then when you do, convey how upset you were for having to cancel."

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    4. Is it ever appropriate to break up with someone over the phone/email/text/IM?

    "If you are conducting a long-distance affair, then the telephone is acceptable," says Kirsch. Otherwise, the answer is a firm "Absolutely not." Man up and do the deed face to face, lest you be rightly deemed, as Paulson puts it, "a spineless miscreant."

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    5. What are the rules for Blackberry/cell phone usage when out on a date?

    "Unless you are a doctor or a drug dealer, turn it off and keep it in your pocket," says Kirsch. If you do have to keep it on - for being on-call, or so the babysitter can reach you if needed - then tell your date up front that it's in your pocket, set to vibrate, and that you'll only take a call (stepping outside to do so) for those specific reasons. Though it's second nature to many to tell time via their phones, the distraction it causes, repeatedly diverting your attention away from your date, is unacceptable, says Kirsch. The solution: Wear a watch.

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    6. When should a man pull out/push in a woman's chair?

    When they arrive at a table, for sure, and if given the opportunity, when you both get up to leave. Don't feel that you have to make this a grand gesture, says Post, "It can be almost a light touching of the chair. It's the thought that's important here."

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    7. Does it matter whether or not a man sits facing/away from the wall on a date in a restaurant?

    "Think of the woman as the guest of honor," says Post, "and the guest of honor always gets the best seat, which is with her back to the wall, looking out over the room." When applicable, the man should also offer her the seat with less "aisle traffic" passing from behind. If it's a table positioned in the middle of the room, then let her choose where she wants to sit, says Kirsch.

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    8. Should a man stand when a woman leaves and returns to a table?

    In business situations, no; in social settings, it depends. Though considered an outdated flourish, it is still one that "a woman might like, because it feels like you're putting her up on a pedestal a bit," says Post. Save it for fancy restaurants and more formal dinner parties, though, and if standing up completely feels awkward, it's perfectly acceptable to do a little halfway-out-of-your-chair move. An important footnote: When there's numerous men and woman at a table, only those one or two men sitting next to the woman should stand. Warns Post, "All the men standing up, it becomes more of a circus."

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    9. Should a man give his date cabfare at the end of a date?

    No, but he should drive her himself, or share a cab that drops her off at her place first. "As the man, it is your responsibility to make sure the night ends with your date getting home safely," says Post. The fact that this gentlemanly gesture just so happens to put you at her front door, where a well-mannered man is more likely to score a goodnight kiss or an invite upstairs, is pure happenstance.

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    10. Is there any etiquette to be aware of when using/waiting for a unisex bathroom?

    "Not that I can think of," says Kirsch. "Public restrooms are disgusting free-for-alls, and women are just as bad as men about perpetuating this." Just use common sense, says Post. "Don't stand right in front of the door while you're waiting so that the person has to inch her way around you to get out of the bathroom."

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For further edification, check out Things Guys Shouldn't Do in Public -- a guide to our public behavior by the ladies at Lemondrop.