DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a very good friend who invited me and my husband over for dinner and told us to get a baby sitter for our daughter.
I probably would get a baby sitter since my 6-year-old daughter would be bored with the adult conversation. However, I was a bit offended by the suggestion. Am I overreacting?
GENTLE READER? No, because had your friends simply issued the invitation to only you and your husband, you would have understood their intentions without the added insult of instructing you on how to make it happen. Right?
Had everyone stuck with that, all would have been well. Your hosts would have accomplished their goal of having an adults-only evening -- and you would have been spared any offense.
However, Miss Manners cannot help but notice that your reason for potentially procuring a baby sitter was not that your daughter's company was not requested, but that she might have been bored. This implies that you might have considered bringing her, asked or not.