DEAR MISS MANNERS: We are having a debate at work: Is it rude to eat from the second layer of chocolates before the first is all gone?
GENTLE READER: This is an archaeological question, the answer to which will depend on the delicacy of the upper strata, the amount of effort required to excavate, and the urgency with which you need to decamp before local inhabitants or law enforcement -- or the people behind you in line -- become threatening.
Miss Manners urges you to resist the temptation to dig if access to the second layer will require more than cursory adjusting of food destined for other people, and certainly if it may damage such food. Deftly and discreetly lifting out a plastic tray to make a selection may be acceptable; hovering over the chocolates, or turning them over for inspection, is not.