DEAR MISS MANNERS: After I meet new folks and inform them the place I earned my bachelor’s diploma and what my plans for the long run are, I continuously get feedback and questions similar to, “Wow, you should be actually good,” or “Did you do effectively on the MCAT?” or “What was your GPA?”
Having been raised to think about this data private, I’m uncertain methods to reply. It isn’t data I really feel comfy sharing with folks I do know, a lot much less folks I’ve simply met.
If the questions are yes-or-no (similar to “Did you at all times excel in school?”), stating “sure” comes throughout as if I’m bragging, however to say “no” can be a lie. (After I as soon as replied “sure” to such a query, the particular person responded by telling me that I used to be cocky.)
How do I reply to those inappropriate questions with out seeming both impolite or boastful?
GENTLE READER: What home had been you in?
Sorry, just a bit joke from a faculty the place they be taught to keep away from that tedious dialog by answering “The place did you go to varsity?” with “Within the northeast.”
However your questioners are additionally asking about take a look at scores? Miss Manners can be unable to withstand asking incredulously, “Do you even bear in mind your outdated take a look at scores?”
And if they are saying sure, you may say, “Nicely, you should be actually good.” With out including “… and should not have a life.”
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I’m happy that our daughter is instructing her youngsters (ages 4 and seven) about thank-you notes. My query considerations the e-card model of this.
With a written be aware, definitely a father or mother should stamp and handle it, and maybe hover over the kid to encourage them to write down. However the outcomes are a delight for each receiver (candy infantile notes, misspellings and all!) and sender (studying to specific thankfulness).
With an e-card, one wonders if the kid had any position in any respect, and if that’s the case, what they realized from it. Even when the kid might kind, does a mailed birthday card, hooked up to a package deal or reward of cash, benefit solely an e-card reply?
This can be a difficulty the generations view fairly otherwise — that mailed thank-yous, birthday and anniversary greetings could also be seen as charming however archaic.
If etiquette suggests we get with the occasions, I’ll obtain these e-thanks as fortunately as handwritten ones. (And if that’s the case, I assume texting and common emails additionally suffice.) For the time being, although, I’m barely dissatisfied.
GENTLE READER: That’s as a result of your daughter taught a part of the lesson, however not the laborious half.
That presents require thanks is the primary main lesson, particularly as it’s now not universally practiced. So that’s beneficial.
What she has apparently not taught is that it isn’t sufficient to ship a mere receipt, similar to a rote textual content, which might be pre-composed. Quite, the expression should be private. Even toddlers might be urged to say one thing honest and particular — about each the current and the donor’s kindness.
That may be a lesson that has a fair deeper worth than the important social one.
Please ship your inquiries to Miss Manners at her web site, www.missmanners.com; to her e-mail, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or by way of postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas Metropolis, MO 64106.
