Miss Manners
When is an invite not an invite?
Dear Miss Manners: I am invited to a baby shower, or so I thought! (Updated: 07/02/09 7:00 AM )
Ill woman hounded for present
Dear Miss Manners: Several years ago, I volunteered at an elementary school and became friendly with a mother and son who both taught there. My health has since deteriorated to the point where I am in a wheelchair. I left my volunteer job and the mother and son moved on. (Updated: 06/30/09 6:55 AM )
Face to face beats Facebook
Dear Miss Manners: My younger sister and I have a close relationship, so when she told me that she was interested in someone, I was happy to hear the details of the blossoming of a new relationship. Sadly, both her and my classes will keep her from introducing him to me for a few months at least. (Updated: 06/28/09 7:20 AM )
Miss Manners: Tell them; they'll find out anyway
Dear Miss Manners: I have a serious, but probably (hopefully) not dangerous medical condition (a benign inoperable brain tumor, if you must know). I am receiving radiation therapy for it. This situation is very unpleasant for me, and I would rather not discuss this except when I feel the need and am comfortable doing so. (Updated: 06/25/09 10:23 AM )
Organizer should move dinner
Dear Miss Manners: We are gathering for dinner to celebrate a friend’s last night in town, as she is moving away. The host is expecting us all to pitch in and pay for the guest of honor’s dinner. (Updated: 06/23/09 6:56 AM )
A creepy ‘goody bag’
Dear Miss Manners: A friend recently attended the funeral of an acquaintance. During the service, silver trays were passed with small silk bags on them, and each guest was encouraged to take one. She’d been to a funeral where everyone had been given a bubble wand, and during the service they all blew bubbles, so she figured some similar high-jinx were afoot. (Updated: 06/21/09 7:07 AM )
Time for a new policy
Dear Miss Manners: Myself and three other people carpool to work in the mornings and afternoons, and each week we take turns driving. Usually, whoever’s driving listens to music and/or news radio at a very low volume. (Updated: 06/19/09 6:49 AM )
Miss Manners: No rude babies, only rude adults
Dear Miss Manners: My sister and I were in a public bathroom, changing her son’s diaper, when an acquaintance of hers came by to take a peek at the new baby, I made the comment that he was “Being a good baby today.” (Updated: 06/18/09 10:33 AM )
Your spelling ‘stnks’
Dear Miss Manners: As the Communications Director for a government agency, I respond to written constituent inquiries. In an effort to personalize my responses, I often excerpt from the original missive. For example, “You’re agency stnks!” (sic). (Updated: 06/16/09 6:37 AM )
Why bother with machine?
Dear Miss Manners: A few months ago, I needed to call my former wife on a matter of some importance (fortunately not an emergency) concerning our children. She was not home, so I left a message. She never called me back. (Updated: 06/14/09 7:04 AM )
When is it right to wear white?
Dear Miss Manners: I’m pleased to note how consideration for others seems to be the guiding principle of manners as you promote them, but one rule of etiquette has puzzled me for a lifetime: the prohibition of wearing white or linen between Labor Day and Easter. (Updated: 06/11/09 6:49 AM )
Ovation inflation hits high school
Dear Miss Manners: When attending a performance of, say, a high school musical, what are the rules about standing ovations? They seem to be occurring more and more frequently for what I’d consider an adequate, but certainly not spectacular, performance. (Updated: 06/09/09 7:01 AM )
Protocol for heads of state
Dear Miss Manners: What should an American president do when he greets a foreign head of state? What about his wife? And would that be any different from an average American citizen greeting a foreign head of state? (Updated: 06/07/09 7:34 AM )
Oh, you’re early— again
Dear Miss Manners: Every year my husband and I have a birthday party for our son. Every year the party starts at the same time (2 p. m.), and every year we have the same issue: a set of grandparents who arrive hours early. (Updated: 06/04/09 6:49 AM )
Calling people on social lies
Dear Miss Manners: I was recently a guest at a group camp out. While enjoying the fire after a day of outdoor fun, another guest claimed to have been a sniper with a Marine reconnaissance unit in Iraq. (Updated: 06/02/09 7:07 AM )
