![]() ![]() While I would like to feel more comfortable asking business owners to consider making these changes, I'm not sure how to do it in a way that is polite and kind. I wish more businesses encouraged their staff to ask customers before adding, say, plastic utensils to a food order or a plastic sleeve over dry-cleaned items. While plastic bag bans and paper straws are great steps forward, many businesses still seem to use way more plastic than is necessary. If I had my way, single-use plastic would be strictly limited to essential functions, such as in medical equipment or gloves to handle hazardous material. View CommentsĭEAR MISS MANNERS: Living in a city that generates massive quantities of plastic waste on a daily basis, I can't pass an overflowing garbage can or notice litter blowing down the street without thinking about where it will end up. Trust that if, and when, she does throw a reception, she knows where you live. GENTLE READER: The problem with your niece's modest (and, as both you and Miss Manners agree, praiseworthy) approach to sharing her good news is that it is inconsistent with shouting it from the rooftop. Should I sign up for the social media platform on which my neighbor saw the news, just in case she announces the reception in the same way she announced the wedding? Is there a kinder way to announce a wedding to which very few were invited, and to extend an invitation to a future reception? I called her to congratulate her, and she said that she hoped to have a reception sometime in the future, to which extended family would be invited. However, I found out about her wedding through a neighbor, who saw it online. This seems reasonable for a second marriage. She invited her parents and her brother, but no other family members. View CommentsĭEAR MISS MANNERS: My niece was recently married for the second time, and as she had a formal wedding the first time, she chose to have a small, intimate ceremony in her garden this time. And that you feel terrible at having neglected to insist on paying for that professional work and that the very least you can do is to do so now, in addition to apologizing (note how Miss Manners snuck in that second apology). Tell your friends the truth: that you were overwhelmed by their generosity at the time and cannot ever forget it. You may feel overwhelmed by their generosity, but from their point of view, you did not even care enough to acknowledge it. GENTLE READER: Not thanking someone when no thanks will be enough is a natural reaction - and one to be avoided at all costs. What do you suggest we do to thank these people who we cannot possibly thank enough? (Years later, when we tried to continue the work, we were told he can't help us, so there may be bad feelings there.) ![]() They looked after the mail and even took my mother-in-law to get a COVID vaccination, which took them hours! The friends wouldn't even take my husband up on his offer to take them out for a meal in return.Īnother friend did some professional work for us that I offered to pay for, but was told he doesn't work that way. In one case, some friends hosted my husband when he was cleaning out his mother's house, hours from home.
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