DEAR MISS MANNERS: Is it OK to ask for more bread so that you can take it home? I go out with people who feel that it is acceptable to ask for more bread with the express purpose of taking that bread home, not to enjoy it at the meal.

Am I wrong to think that in this situation it is improper to ask for more bread?

GENTLE READER: Only if they are asking the grocer and planning to pay for what he hands them would you be wrong.

Miss Manners hears often now about people who have expanded the doggie bag practice in order to stock their larders. The idea was supposed to be to take home from restaurants the food that you had ordered but were unable to finish. Your dining companions actually want to request extra food they would not otherwise have been served. And now hosts report that guests are asking for -- or simply packing up -- leftovers after private dinner parties.

These are not desperate, starving people, or they wouldn't be going to restaurants and dinner parties. Why are they begging and looting? How do they have the nerve to expect restaurants or hosts to supply them with future meals? And why do you continue to eat with them?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband will soon be filing for divorce. I have, for several years past, presented my mother-in-law with a Mother's Day corsage because she requested one from me several years ago, and I have continued the tradition to avoid the discomfort of being asked to buy one.

When I am no longer her daughter-in-law, is it appropriate for me to order her a Mother's Day corsage as a gift from our young children? My husband and his sister will most likely not remember to order her one, as they have never done it in the past and left the task up to me, or perhaps not even thought of it at all.

I have heard, secondhand, that she will still welcome me in her home after the divorce, and I assume she will want to continue as cordial a relationship as possible, as she will still be my children's grandmother.

It is unclear to me at this point if our divorce will be bitter and ugly or if it will be a cooperative process. By the end, my mother-in-law may come to hate me.

GENTLE READER: As you have been sending those corsages to avoid annoyance, rather than out of affection, you could hardly be blamed for stopping. Yet Miss Manners can think of reasons that you might want to continue.

One is as a reminder of the tie you have with her through the children. Another has to do with the possibility of your being vilified during an unpleasant divorce. It might not help, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have fresh evidence of your having been gracious to her.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a gentleman in my 20s and work in a very large office building. I am absolutely smitten (!) by a most angelic young lady who also works in the building. We cross paths in the lobby at least weekly and exchange repeated glances and smiles.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about her except that we work for different employers (she rides a different elevator bank), so getting a proper introduction seems impossible. I know from reading your column that a gentleman wouldn't try to pick up a stranger in public, nor would a lady respond to such an overture.

However, in such a situation, isn't it permissible for a lady to "accidentally" drop her handkerchief in the gentleman's direction, he picks it up and offers it back, thus giving these two strangers a legitimate reason to engage in conversation? If so, is there a similar maneuver that a gentleman may use?

Did I mention I am absolutely smitten (!)? I know you don't dispense dating advice, but I would really appreciate your help here.

GENTLE READER: You remind Miss Manners of an Ogden Nash poem about a gentleman who devised a plan for learning the identity of a beautiful stranger, the girl of his dreams, whom he saw on the street.

He reasoned that if he chased her down with his car and ran her over, "gently ... with one wheel, say, certainly with no more than two," he would be able to read her name and address the next day in the newspaper.

And so he did. That day, her address turned out to be Mercy Hospital. And when he presented himself there, it did not go well.

From this we learn: no accidents.

As for dropping things, Miss Manners doubts whether the handkerchief trick would work today. Do any ladies besides herself actually use handkerchiefs nowadays? A crumpled tissue would not have the same effect. And even the lace-edged real thing might inspire a horror of possible disease transmitted to anyone who picked it up.

Ladies are not expected to pick up objects that gentlemen drop, but perhaps if you let your wallet fall, your dream girl might call it to your attention, and you could thank her so profusely as to start a conversation. Or she might hover over it, hoping you would not notice its absence, in which case you would at least know that she is not your dream girl.

Would it be too easy for you to ask around if anyone you know knows her?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Is it correct to eat off of the gourmet sauce spoon? I have seen this done in Paris but not in the States.

GENTLE READER: You are speaking of the small, flat, notched implement that is part of the individual place setting, Miss Manners trusts. Yes, it is an eating utensil. It is a 20th-century French invention, which never quite caught on among those of us who use the edge of our forks and those who have more direct methods.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is my obligation to provide a selection of beverages at a dinner party? I was brought up to think that a glass of water should be provided at each place. My husband thinks that we are supposed to provide a choice of other options such as iced tea or juice.

This came up last time his parents visited, since he says that his mother doesn't drink water. (Who doesn't drink water??)

GENTLE READER: Your mother-in-law, evidently.

Miss Manners suggests that you check back about that upbringing of yours. Was it really "Water is all they get, no matter what," or was there a small overriding clause about meeting reasonable requests to please your guests?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is the appropriate response if a professor, to whom one has applied for a summer position, does not notify one promptly that he has filled the position with someone else?

I am a first-year law student; I applied for a research assistantship with a professor for this summer. I interviewed with him. At the interview, he said that he would make his decision soon and reply to me promptly by email.

About a week later, he offered the position to someone else in my class. That person accepted the offer.

I learned of this almost immediately afterward. I wasn't upset by this: I was happy for the fellow that got the job. The next day I expected an email from the professor. And the next. The professor has taught first-year classes many times before; he should know that news travels very quickly.

I received no message till a week later. The professor then sent me an email telling me that he was sorry not to choose me, but, etc. He neither acknowledged nor apologized for not responding promptly. I felt and still feel very insulted.

Am I right to feel insulted? Should I tell him that I feel insulted? In reply to his email, I sent him a note thanking him for his consideration and saying that I thought that his choice of student would be excellent in the job. In an aside, I mentioned that I learned of this the previous week.

Was this note improper? Should I talk to the law school's Office of Career Services and ask them to have a word with him? What should I do besides stew?

GENTLE READER: Look for another job. But not in the etiquette business, where we do not go around scolding people. Even Miss Manners would not dream of doing such a thing; she gives an opinion only when asked.

Granted, it would have been considerate of the professor to tell you his decision in good time so that you could begin making other plans. Unfortunately, many prospective employers do not have the courtesy to respond at all to applicants whom they have seriously considered.

But it is unwise, as well as rude, to enter the job world with the idea that you can reform the senior people in it.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)