DEAR MISS MANNERS: On a job application or any application, when does one check the divorce box versus the single one? I say you're divorced for one year and check the divorced box, then you are to check the single box. One can't be divorced forever. Some people with kids prefer to use the divorced box, but one should use the single box if they are single.
GENTLE READER: The rule you propose is better than the common practice, Miss Manners admits -- the one by which a formerly married lady is called a divorcee forever, while the former husband immediately reverts to being a bachelor.
Still, you don't get to make up the rules. Well, socially, you do. But even Miss Manners does not get to mess with legal terms. If you tire of being single and are asked your status on a marriage license application, she is afraid that you have to come clean.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I just received an invitation for our 60th-year high school class reunion -- yeah, I'm 78 and not accepting aging gracefully. I still exercise, eat healthy and stay mentally active.
The reunion will be held during the daylight hours -- probably since most of us remaining don't/can't drive at night. There will be a sit-down dinner with entertainment and "visiting" following.
Since many of us can't consume a whole dinner (as opposed to a buffet, where we could choose how much or what we want to eat), would it be proper to take along a plastic food bag to take home the food we can't eat from the served dinner, and which would otherwise be thrown out?
I understand the reasoning -- a lot of people our age would rather be "served" than go to a buffet. At restaurants with served-portion dinners, I usually take along a plastic container to take home what I can't eat or ask for one and don't feel the least embarrassed. (After all, I paid for it.)
But I don't know the protocol at reunions/receptions/banquets. That "overstuffed" feeling after my "eating's worth" is horrible and certainly doesn't contribute to a good night's sleep or weight control.
If this is construed as "cheap," so be it. Being a "Depression baby," I just hate to waste food or anything else! Besides, if it tasted good the first time, I'm sure it will taste as good or better the second time. What are your thoughts?
GENTLE READER: That this would be a good time for you to get in touch with the organizing committee and suggest that they order smaller portions, at least as an option. If you call them Health Servings or Youth Plates, everyone will want them.
Miss Manners will take you at your word that you wouldn't mind your classmates' getting up a collection so that you can afford to buy food. But while doggie bags are acceptable when buying one's own dinner at a restaurant, they are much less so on social occasions for which you have paid and utterly wrong when you have a host.
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