European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Odds amp ends t a 5sl it miss manners Judith Martin dear mias manners my co workers and i met a Challenge offered by our supervisor who agreed to buy each of us an ice Cream treat. I am on a restricted diet that docs not allow such types of food and my supervisor is aware of this. When she asked me what flavor i wanted i asked if i could have the Money instead. She said no she did not like that idea so i went without the Reward that everyone else received. She did no to offer me an alternate Reward. Gentle Reader like what a a Gold Star on your report card. Adults Are supposed to understand a mild Little. Joke when they hear one your supervisor did not mean to offer a serious incentive or she could have Given you bonuses. Ice Cream was mentioned both because it made the Challenge sound like a children a game and because it has Little monetary value there will now be a Long pause while miss manners runs out to double Check the current Price of an ice Cream Cone. Could it have turned into a serious investment since she last indulged and then there will be a longer pause while she gets into the spirit of it and leave the ice Cream parlor and go Back to work where were we of yes at the time of the bargain you could a playfully have negotiated an equally Token Reward by saying for example a what about a Bagel for those of us who done to cat sweets a but to demand compensation afterwards is to Indi. Cate that you arc seriously being childish so to speak. Dear miss manners at a friends House i commented on her candles. The Wicks were burned at the top but no More. I asked her Why she had done this and was told it was proper. I thought it looked Tacky but she said it is incorrect to put out unused candles. Is this True and if so Why gentle Reader it is True and miss manners is Only too aware that admitting it contributes to giving etiquette a bad name. Sensible people shake their Heads sadly thinking about the sad state of the world and then ask themselves a a done to those people have anything better to worry about Quot but at a deeper level of a shallow subject this Feggo Usa tiny Rule does have a meaning. It s Point is that one docs not put useful things out merely for show. This is the go ahead and use the guest towels Rule As much As candles enjoy lending a gracious touch to modern jiving and madly flattering the faces around the dinner table they remember when they were a necessity not just a frill. Miss manners sus peels that they enjoy Power outages just to remind others of this. And so we done to have them sitting around with Pristine Wicks As if they had no real function i your Friend resorts to a bit of sleight of match in order to obey this Rule miss manners is not going to Call her on it. Dear mis manner a Friend of mine has developed the annoying habit of using the Telephone code to Call the last number from which her phone was called when a message is not left. If she is near her phone but for whatever reason can to answer it she Waits for the person to leave a message. If no one docs she dials the code to find out who called and then informs the person on the other end that they Cost her 75 cents because they did not leave a message and she had to use the code service to find out who called she has her own business at Home so i can understand her not wanting to miss a Call but her phone message also gives her Beeper number along with. Instructions on How to use a Beeper. Is it rude not a message on someone san swering machine my feeling is that if someone wants to leave a message they will. What should you Tell someone who informs you. That you Cost them 75 cents because you did not leave a message gentle Reader miss manners is sorry to have to inform you that your Friend has gone technology berserk. There is nothing wrong with using All that equipment but miss manners has noticed with alarm that it seems to exceed some Peoples emotional capacity. The sign of having gone bananas is to cease to regard such equipment As a convenience for its users but to regard people As its servants. This is what this poor soul has done an answering machine makes it possible for those who wish to do so to leave messages it docs not demand them. And calling Back to retrieve missed Calls May be a convenience for the retriever but her choosing to use it does not entitle her to berate her callers. Besides by miss manners calculations it is your Friend who has Cost her self All that change first by not getting to the Telephone on time and second by not having the patience to wait for her callers to try again. A United feature Syndicate feeling incorrect address your etiquette questions in Black of t Black Ink on White writing paper to miss manners . Box 91 Cleveland Ohio 44101-3426, the Quill shortage prevents miss manners from answering questions except through this column. Blue 420.dying to find a new wife and Mother Erma Bombeck couple of weeks ago a to movie called substitute wife gave new meaning to shop till you drop Here a the scenario for those of you who missed it a Mother of four children who lived on a Barren Patch of land in the West with her husband was dying and wanted to make sure her husband had a wife to help him with the kids and the chores. He was Busy digging a Wrell so she visited every town within the radius of her buggy at one Point she stopped at a funeral in Progress approached the fresh widow and asked if she would marry her husband following her death. The be re a pc d woman lifted her Black veil and said she was already promised to the minister. The ratio of 12 men to one woman in the West escaped no one. Tire search continued until she ended up in a Brothel where she found Farrah Fawcett who was open to an alternative to the bar scene. One of the More poignant scenes was when the wife asked far Rah a is he to your liking a Farrah who wore a Bra that lifted and separated and looked like she had Dolly Parton sitting on her head said a yes a then the wife turned to her husband and said a is she to your liking a he nodded. The dying wife even insisted Farrah and her husband sleep together. Pule Eese. In be heard of organized women cleaning under the Beds just before they go so people wont talk but this is ridiculous. Frankly it was a part of the West i had never seen a the shortage of live ins. There a still a shortage but their standards Are higher. For a woman now to get someone to sit with her children for a few hours is next to impossible. The question Isnit a How Many children Are there a but a do you have Cable a if Wren re honest most of us be As saintly As the character in the movie. I personally am going to hide my dinner ring leave my Carlo my Bird and take the silverware with me. A Universal press Syndicate a a no kidding cat fact 1. Average canned meal a same As five mice 2. A Kitty Quot a from turkish a Kedi Quot for a cat 3. Black cat a Good Luck in Britain 4. Napoleon Hitler Alexander the great a feared cats 5. First cat show a in 1598 6.alexander Dumas cat a ate All his exotic Birds Dumas imprisoned his cat in Monkey Cage for five years As punishment. Cailor famous people whose Graves Are lost 1. John Wilkes Booth 2. Antony a 3. Cleopatra 4. Nellie by 5. Genghis Khan 6. Playwright George s. Kaufman 7. Declaration signer Button Gwinnett world foal j res Syndicate Page 10 sunday june 12. 199-1
