DEAR MISS MANNERS: What’s a well mannered method to refuse a hug with buddies or strangers? What to do when my proffered handshake is batted away and a hug pursued as an alternative?
Some males, particularly, appear to need to hug me due to my massive chest, and it appears extra like sexual assault than a pleasant gesture. And there are particular girls (whom I don’t take into account buddies) who’ve behaved badly to me prior to now, and I don’t need them to the touch me.
Is the recommendation the identical in both case? And what about once they chase me?
GENTLE READER: Run.
No pleasant gesture ought to come at the price of private security. In case your proffered hand is batted away, step again shortly and perform a little bow (to get a long way between you), after which mutter by means of rationalization, “Something is going around and I don’t want you to catch it.”
Miss Manners will go away it to your discretion to inform these people who that “something” is their salacious habits.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: We had been out to dinner with one other couple, and my spouse grew to become horrified after I took the ultimate sip of my cocktail, together with an ice dice, after which proceeded to return the ice dice to the glass.
The ultimate sip is the very best sip! Is that this so horrible?
GENTLE READER: Sure.
By all means, take that closing sip. However Miss Manners must insist that you simply discover a method to take action with out the ice coming again up bare.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: As a preteen, I used to be advised by somebody that it was impolite to eat one meals on my plate at a time — that I used to be supposed to maneuver round my plate, consuming bites of every merchandise in succession.
I like having fun with all of 1 meals earlier than shifting on. The one factor I can liken it to is watching a TV present, and somebody adjustments the channel in the midst of it. I need to end the present I’m watching earlier than shifting on to the following.
The day I used to be advised this, I made a silent vow to myself that I might all the time eat one meals at a time, the way in which I choose. However I’m questioning if in case you have ever heard of the rule this individual was attempting to impose on me.
I might suppose it’s impolite to surveil different folks’s consuming, however then, this individual was nonetheless attempting to do that after I was in my 60s. I’m now not on this individual’s life, however the query has nagged at me for many years. Who was proper?
GENTLE READER: You.
Even Miss Manners doesn’t have opinions on the order by which you eat your dinner — and positively would by no means monitor it.
So long as you aren’t attempting to devour the bread bowl earlier than the soup or making equally chaotic decisions, she helps your selections — each on the way you select to eat and for distancing your self from this nagging individual.
Please ship your inquiries to Miss Manners at her web site, www.missmanners.com; to her e mail, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or by way of postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas Metropolis, MO 64106.
