Ladies and gentlemen - How important are good manners when it comes to career opportunities?

From Wikipedia: In sociology, manners are the unenforced standards of conduct which show the actor to be cultured, polite, and refined. They are like laws in that they codify or set a standard for human behavior, but they are unlike laws in that there is no formal system for punishing transgressions, other than social disapproval. They are a kind of norm. What is considered “mannerly” is highly susceptible to change with time, geographical location, social stratum, occasion, and other factors. A lady is a term frequently used for a woman who follows proper manners; the term gentleman is used as a male counterpart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manners

Are you a lady? Are you a gentleman? How do manners influence the outcome of job interviews? Suppose someone is one of the few geniuses in an important field, can he or she afford to ignore manners? Would you still hire him or her because of rare skills?

And: How important are manners on Fluther?