How Much Should You Tip the People Who Work the Hardest?
This week’s reader question was posted recently on Real Simple’s Facebook page. It comes from Denise LaPlant Carbone, who wrote:
My husband and I disagree about how much we should tip the hotel staff who clean the rooms/make the beds, etc. With vacation season on the horizon, what does everyone else recommend?
Are Handwritten Thank You Notes Becoming Obsolete?
Part of me can’t believe I even have the gall to ask that question. My grandmother would be turning over in her grave if she read blogs. But the other night, at a restaurant where I was sitting at a big round table with six other women—a mix of old friends and new acquaintances—the topic of thank you notes came up and …
Son, Meet Grandma. She’s Actually an Interesting Person…
This week’s etiquette dilemma comes from a reader named Jessica Bloom, who wrote, “My in-laws rarely call or invite us and our kids over to events, but when they do, our kids never want to go and get very upset if we end up going. What is a polite way to not accept their invites?”
Please Hold for the Next Available Annoyance
Answer me! Now!
The phone rang the other night as we were getting ready to sit down to dinner.
The caller ID screen said: 800 number.
Why.
Why Do You Think I Want Your Hand-Me-Downs?
This is a question one of my friends is dying to ask her next-door neighbor. But she’s not sure how to pose it—or even whether it’s appropriate to ask—without sounding as rude as the neighbor who foisted the stuff on her. Here’s what happened:
The Nudes Next Door
One morning a few days after we moved to a ninth floor apartment in New York City, I walked into the kitchen to find my husband staring out a window, transfixed.
“Would you look at that?” he said, gesturing with his coffee cup toward a building directly across a courtyard. I looked over his shoulder to take a peek and saw our neighbors walking around in their eighth floor apartment wearing…nothing.
You Don’t Know Me, But I’ve Heard All About You
Noisy neighbors. Do you have them? This week’s etiquette dilemma comes from a reader who lives below a “heavy walker.”
Karebear78: I live in a fairly new condo complex, which is fairly sound proof. However, the person who lives above me is a very heavy walker and paces throughout the night. The breaking point was last night when my neighbor started vacuuming at 2 a.m. I have been meaning to say something or slip a note under the door. However, I don’t want to be confrontational or be hurtful. Any suggestions on how I can address?
Blah blah blah, she said. Rescue me!
Recently a reader wrote in with an etiquette dilemma we all face. Sometimes it happens at a party. Or with a colleague at work. Or when you get stuck with a certain sort of a seatmate on a plane. …
francesca1: What is a graceful but effective way to escape people who talk too much? Also, what is a nice way to end a conversation?
Help! My In-Laws Called Me ‘Tall’
I have always dreamed of being tall. Height gives you presence. Long legs. And that willowy runway silhouette that looks so good in drape-y fabrics. I am jealous of you if you look like this, and I can’t imagine trying to make you feel uncomfortable by saying, “Wow, you are so tall! Did you play basketball?” Of course…I’m not your in-law.
Bad Manners Case File: The Little Dogs Who Liked to Bark
But when I was telling the story about the yapping and the whining and the snuffling, there was one little detail I forgot to mention: my second dog. Meet Larry.
