DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have been dating a woman for about two weeks. We have been together and like each other quite a bit.

We planned a dinner one day in advance for a Tuesday evening. Nice dinner and wine. She sends a text at noon canceling dinner since her friend, who visits from out of town frequently and was already here, decided they needed more time together.

Do I brush it off, reconsider our friendship or move on to better manners? P.S. We’re in our 50s.

GENTLE READER: While kind of you to provide the details of your age, being inconsiderate does not necessarily improve with it.

Miss Manners assumes that you were using it to imply that your friend should have known better. But you could also use your own earned wisdom and patience to give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps there was something pressing with her friend.

In any case, it is clearly up to you and the depths of your feelings to see if you want to give it another chance. If you do and she cancels again, you then have unabashed permission to politely move on, with or without an explanation.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Since I was a child, my parents always taught me that tipping well is very important. If you have the money to go to a meal, then you have the money to leave a tip for those serving you.

I have taken this to heart in my adult life, but have found that not all of my friends feel the same. While I consider 20 percent tip to be the norm in the U.S., maybe 18 percent if things weren’t great, I would never dream of doing only 15 percent.

However, I have more than one friend who leaves that amount, leaving me to overcompensate on my own tab so that the waitress/waiter does not get shorted.

I have stopped accepting meal invitations with these friends because it makes me uncomfortable to be associated with them in that way, and it also drives my bill up even more.

Is there a polite way to bring this up with friends? I don’t want to cause unnecessary conflict, but I do want to find a way to say that what they’re doing is not, in my opinion, right.

GENTLE READER: Pick a time far away from the appearance of the check (at the beginning of a meal, for example, or at a social excursion that doesn’t involve a restaurant), to bring up the subject of tipping, doing your best to disguise it as general conversation. This way you can at least figure out which friends believe that the tipping rate should be lower and which are just genuinely unaware.

You may then skillfully impart your own opinion, perhaps with a few examples from yours or another’s service industry experience. Miss Manners is always in favor of assuming the best of those who may be ignorant as to what is expected -- or haven’t kept up with inflation. Assuming so here may alleviate the problem and potentially save the friendship.

(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, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A friend of mine is marrying a cad who is only after her money. Do I attend the wedding to support her, or stay away?

GENTLE READER: Whatever you think of the future Mr. Friend, you have presumably had your say and been overruled -- by the person who will bear the consequences if you, and not she, turn out to be correct.

If the support you intend to offer is of the “You’re going to regret this” variety, Miss Manners suggests you find an unrelated reason for not being able to attend. But as your friend would like you to be there, the preferred course of action is to do so, graciously.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: After serving my company as a manager in an exemplary fashion (as I was frequently told) for over 10 years, I was in line for a promotion, which my boss and all my colleagues knew I wanted and expected to receive.

Instead, my boss chose someone else, and offered me what he considered an even better promotion, except that the responsibilities of that job did not appeal to me at all. So I turned it down. I was only vaguely aware that this “better” position existed; at no time, either when I interviewed for the job I wanted, or before or after this period, did my boss even ask me if I had any interest in this “better” position.

I have accepted that it was his decision to choose someone else, and I still would have turned down the “better” job even if he had handled it diplomatically, but I am very, very hurt by his poor communication.

I still have to work with him, although I won’t be seeing him as often now. I don’t want to be childish about this, I don’t want to carry a grudge, but I don’t like or trust this man particularly anymore. How do I respond when I see him, when he asks me (jauntily, as is his style) how I am doing?

GENTLE READER: It has come to Miss Manners’ attention that modern businesspeople blame everything from rude emails to embezzlement on “poor communication.” She innocently thought the term referred to her cellular telephone’s carefree disdain for clarity and intelligibility.

Your boss committed three actions to which you object, none primarily a failure of communication. He didn’t give you the job you wanted. He offered you a job you didn’t want -- or more precisely, he made a decision for you about what you would like. And he is jaunty, which Miss Manners interprets to mean “friendly, in a possibly condescending and likely unprofessional manner.”

The first is, as you recognize, within his right. The latter two show a poor understanding of the divide between business and personal manners. Do not fall into his error. You have reason not to like or trust this man, but you are not required to do either. He is your boss, not your friend or your father. Treat him with every professional courtesy, and keep your personal feelings for your friends and family.

(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, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My daughter is very hurt that no one has sent her recent graduate anything yet. It has been one week, and she did not send out announcements.

Is it proper to put on Facebook how disappointed she is and that her son deserves better? What is the proper timeline for such things?

GENTLE READER: It depends on what the objective would be in doing this.

If you are predicting a resulting outpouring of love and material offerings from those to whom this scolding is directed, Miss Manners rather doubts that it will be successful. However, if the idea is to make your daughter appear greedy and her son to appear pathetic, the chances are good.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: When talking with my husband of 30 years, he feels he needs to correct every word mispronounced. I find it irritating and lose my thought process when telling a story or my train of thought. He does it more as he has gotten older. What do you think?

GENTLE READER: That 30 years is a long time to refrain from attacking someone who drives you crazy. Unless, of course, you keep mispronouncing the same words, in which case Miss Manners imagines that it is he who is about to go over the brink.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I’m in a serious, one-year relationship with a wonderful man. He has a passion for running, which keeps him quite fit. I am a personal chef with a passion for food and entertaining, which often leaves me too tired to think of exercise. I could stand to lose a few pounds if either one of us were bothered by it.

I was able to meet his parents, who are equally passionate about a fit lifestyle, and was invited to dinner in their home. During the meal, I asked to be passed the dish of pasta that was served. His father obliged and then his mother said, “I’m sure Johnny will get you hooked on running so that you can start burning that stuff right off.”

I went from confused to shocked, and then offended. And I responded “You’re right, I’ll refrain. I was just being polite as it is obvious you wouldn’t normally have guests in your home.” My boyfriend quickly changed the subject and we went on with the evening.

My boyfriend later told me that I was incredibly rude. I told him that I simply replied to his mother’s statement in kind. I know Miss Manners is often put to the task of deciding who is correct so, in this instance, I would like to ask what she would have done in my shoes. By the way, his parents live on the opposite side of the country, and I do hate running.

GENTLE READER: The gentleman was right: You were incredibly rude. Mind you, his parents were rude, too, but that is no excuse for your being so.

Besides, Miss Manners can’t help noticing that they inadvertently hit on a weakness of yours: You really don’t know when to stop. You could have made your point while staying within the bounds of politeness by stopping after saying, “You’re right, I’ll refrain.”

(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, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)