Miss Manners: Can I put a sign in my bathroom for one particular guest?
DEAR MISS MANNERS We have become friends with another couple over the past two years and we frequently invite them for dinner Related Articles Miss Manners They all arrived early at the restaurant and I find it suspicious Miss Manners Did I break specific rule with my high-end party Miss Manners She took me to an expensive restaurant and committed a crime Miss Manners I gave the teen money and now I m in an awkward situation Miss Manners The marriage proposal you saw on TikTok was bogus Lately I ve noticed that the husband leaves the toilet seat up after using the bathroom Both my husband and I have a habit of closing the lid before flushing Is there a way I can politely bring this up with our guest My husband believes it would be rude for me to mention it and that I should do nothing If not a polite conversation is it rude to leave a little framed sign in the bathroom Please close lid before flushing GENTLE READER Are you sure that is what you really want Because if your guest or anyone really closes the lid before flushing without a quick glance behind to make sure that everything is expunged you might get an unpleasant surprise when you return Miss Manners suggests that you do your best to ignore your guests bathroom habits and resist putting up that sign People have all sorts of private behaviors and neither you nor she really requirements to hear about them she thanks her gentle readers in advance for sparing her If you absolutely cannot control yourself however next time it happens she will permit you to turn to your husband in front of the guest and in a loud stage whisper say I m afraid the cat was drinking out of the toilet again He reliably does that when the lid is left up Of syllabus your husband will have to consent to the ruse and you may need to procure a cat DEAR MISS MANNERS I have a good relationship with my neighbors across the street we re not friends but we have a nice friendly manner with each other Occasionally they ask me to bring their mail into the house when they are gone for longer periods of time and here comes the dilemma As a thank you they invariably give us a bottle of wine The bottles have no sleeves or any other identifying marks on them We don t drink wine Never has anyone seen us drink it because we don t Yet I have a cabinet full of unmarked bottles that I don t know what to do with After years of receiving bottle after bottle I don t know how I could let my neighbors know that we really don t want them I can t even regift them to someone else because they have no sleeves on them What can I do GENTLE READER Unmarked bottles of wine like unmarked white vans are not to be trusted Related Articles Dear Abby My wife says I have no right to be mad about the trash situation Asking Eric I do not want to be involved in the girls trip How do I extricate myself Harriette Cole I m embarrassed that my daughter is that kid in day care Miss Manners They all arrived early at the restaurant and I find it suspicious Dear Abby My granddaughter kept saying I should let her talk so I stopped speaking to her Miss Manners suggests you continue to accept them graciously and then discreetly pour the contents down the drain and make sure you dispose of the empty bottles in the next town over While you are discarding things however please do away with your outrage over mere acquaintances not knowing the particulars of your drinking habits It makes your event ever so slightly less sympathetic Your neighbors were trying to please you although they failed That they do not scrutiny your drinking habits from afar is a good thing Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website www missmanners com to her email gentlereader missmanners com or through postal mail to Miss Manners Andrews McMeel Syndication Walnut St Kansas City MO
