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 all the time 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 colour. I’ve mirrors. It’s additionally lengthy sufficient that I can see it coming down my shoulders with out a mirror.
What can be the correct technique to reply?
GENTLE READER: “Really?” in a tone of utmost 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 have to 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 surroundings the place my sole 30-minute break is in a shared break room, the place I wish to learn or simply eat quietly and benefit from the peacefulness. One colleague is available in every day to make use of the microwave and all the time 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 type … twice. It feels impolite to not.
I, nonetheless, ignore her well-meaning however basic and, for my part, disruptive salutations and stay silent. It has grow to be a every 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 right in pondering that she is, actually, 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 concept of collegial habits.
It’s true that having to deal with co-workers as pricey buddies was a farce that 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 hi there.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I are invited to our neighbor’s highschool commencement subsequent month.
The neighbor’s final title 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 you must 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.
Please ship your inquiries to Miss Manners at her web site, www.missmanners.com; to her electronic mail, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or by means of postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas Metropolis, MO 64106.
