Dear Miss Manners: I work at a Pilates studio and I like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to the instructors for their hard work after each class.
I don’t know what to do when someone has a detailed conversation with the instructor after class.
My habit was to say “Thank you!” out loud. or “Great class!” in the air as you leave the building. Sometimes I try to make eye contact.
Is that an appropriate response? I’ve struggled with this dilemma for years at various workout studios that have fairly intimate environments.
gentle reader: Is your goal to thank the instructor privately, or to convey similar gratitude to the rest of the class? Do you want to show your gratitude publicly? Or are you rushing to your next appointment?
Miss Manners is asking because your solution seems to address all of these except the first part.
In fact, assuming that what’s important to you is expressing your own gratitude rather than showing off in public, she wrote a personal letter and wrote a letter after your last class. I suggest leaving it at the front desk.
Dear Miss Manners: We’ve been receiving a lot of requests for donations at the register lately, sometimes multiple times a day.
I donate to worthy causes and am asked to donate every time I visit a particular grocery store that I shop at almost every day.
It started to bother me that all these funds raised at the customer’s expense and so often were making a profit to these big box stores as a write-off of their donations.
Add to this the implication that if another donation is not made, we will be doing a disastrous act to the less fortunate. Some people may want to give generously, but simply are not in a position to do so. There’s no need to be shy.
I tried saying “Thank you, I’ve already donated,” which is accurate, but about how unkind it is to put the customer (and the sales staff who were told to ask) in that position. is not often mentioned. I’ve said “not today,” too, and I admit that sometimes I feel a little bad about it.
I think I’ll just smile warmly and say, “Thank you, I’ll personally donate.” How do you feel about this kind of response?
Dear reader: Don’t you just love spending an inordinate amount of time worrying about salespeople, store managers, and other customers not paying any attention?
Dear Miss Manners: I told my husband that I always say he’s negative. He said I was a liar.
Later he told me I had done something 10,000 times.when i said he He said he was a liar and his statements were exaggerations.
I asked him why his statement was an exaggeration while mine was a lie.
What is the difference between exaggeration and lying in these sentences?
gentle reader: The subject, dear.
Please send your questions to Miss Manners’ website, www.missmanners.com. Her email is dearmissmanners@gmail.com. or by mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
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