DEAR MISS MANNERS: I’m in my late 20s and have been going grey since preschool.
My hair is now about 95% grey. I prefer it, and get many compliments about it, to which I at all times say thanks and reply any questions.
What confuses me is that no less than as soon as a month, a stranger asks me whether or not I do know that I’ve grey hair. Not if it’s pure, or at what age I went grey, however “Do you know you have gray hair?”
This boggles my thoughts — sure, I’m conscious of my very own hair coloration. I’ve mirrors. It’s additionally lengthy sufficient that I can see it coming down my shoulders with no mirror.
What could be the correct option to reply?
GENTLE READER: “Really?” in a tone of maximum shock, and with a hand as much as your hair. Miss Manners would in all probability add, “Do you have a mirror I could borrow?”
However for these wanting much less drama, maybe “Thank you for letting me know.”
Or simply “Thank you,” with the presumption that it should be meant as a praise.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: From the information of “good manners run amok,” is it ever rude to be pleasant?
I work in a bustling setting the place my sole 30-minute break is in a shared break room, the place I prefer to learn or simply eat quietly and benefit from the peacefulness. One colleague is available in day by day to make use of the microwave and at all times publicizes her entrance with a really loud and cheerful, “Hello, everybody!”
Two minutes later, having made no different dialog, she leaves with an equally boisterous, “Have a good afternoon, everybody!”
When she makes these bulletins, most individuals select to interrupt their conversations, their chewing or their quiet actions to reply in variety … twice. It feels impolite to not.
I, nevertheless, ignore her well-meaning however normal and, in my view, disruptive salutations and stay silent. It has grow to be a day by day annoyance to me, as I can’t shake the sensation that I’m obligated to answer.
Is it rude to disregard such untargeted greetings, or am I appropriate in pondering that she is, in actual fact, the one committing the error in etiquette?
GENTLE READER: Oh, please. Greeting colleagues is impolite as a result of it interferes with chewing?
Miss Manners is afraid that no matter time you spent working remotely has warped your thought of collegial conduct.
It’s true that having to deal with co-workers as pricey mates was a farce which will now be acknowledged as such. You needn’t have interaction in conversations unrelated to work or socialize with them after hours.
However you do have to watch the decency of recognizing their presence. Even when it means sacrificing the studying time it takes you to say whats up.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I are invited to our neighbor’s highschool commencement subsequent month.
The neighbor’s final identify begins with a C, and my husband prompt that we depart the ceremony after our neighbor (in alphabetic place) crosses the stage.
I discover this impolite, however I additionally perceive these ceremonies are prolonged and this can be a senior class of 450. What’s your opinion on this?
GENTLE READER: That it is best to go away both after Z or earlier than A. By the latter answer, Miss Manners means declining the invitation, with heat congratulations to the neighbors.
