DEAR MISS MANNERS: I know that I should not mention a pregnancy unless it is first mentioned by the mother. Are there exceptions?

I teach college and have a student who is, I would guess, around seven months pregnant. She has never mentioned her condition to me. We have a final exam scheduled for a little more than two months from now. I would like to offer her the chance to take the final exam early, in case anything else is early. However, I am not able to let every student who might want a longer vacation also take the final early.

Is there any way I can speak to her about it? I’ve known her for two months, and given the way her body has changed, and her protective patting of her tummy, I cannot imagine it is not a pregnancy.

GENTLE READER: Stifle that kindly impulse. You may be right about your student’s condition, but Miss Manners warns you that you may also be wrong -- if not about the pregnancy itself, then about the timing.

Unless the mother raises it first -- or goes into labor during office hours -- the pregnancy is not your concern. The good news is that you know someone who has all the relevant facts and, it is reasonable to assume, has decided to take responsibility for the result. If she comes to you, you can then show your good intentions by allowing her to reschedule the final.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I work as a bank teller and often give out candies or stickers to the children who accompany their parents to the bank. One of the families that frequently comes in has three young daughters and, as children do, they forget to say “thank you” from time to time.

Each time the children forget, their mother gets right back in the line and waits until I call her up. She then requests that her children apologize for not using manners at first and properly thank me for the treats.

I appreciate the fact that she is trying to raise them with good manners, but I find it to be overbearing and obnoxious. My co-workers roll their eyes and grumble about her wasting time that could be used to tend to other patrons, and other people in line seem annoyed by having to wait over such a petty issue.

I don’t want to come across as rude, but how can I get the point across that there’s no need to hold up the line and waste my or anyone else’s time?

GENTLE READER: Getting back into line seems extreme when the infraction could easily be remedied at the time of checkout.

But as the apologies should not take more than a minute, the only time being wasted that Miss Manners can see is that of the mother and children. Before you or your co-workers condemn her for being overbearing, obnoxious and petty, take a moment to think of the adult customers who fail to thank or even acknowledge you as they yell into their cellphones, or who perform any other number of checkout-line infractions, about which Miss Manners receives regular complaints. Is the extra minute this mother is taking not a good investment in your own future comfort?

(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 boyfriend’s friend and I have been social media friends for years. He has recently become engaged, so I wanted to message him about getting together with him and his new fiancee.

However, I discovered he has deleted me as a friend. I’m ordinarily not affected by such things. In this case, however, I am quite hurt. I really liked my boyfriend’s friend, and I am not sure what happened. Should I leave things as they are or have my boyfriend ask?

GENTLE READER: The etiquette around “unfriending” is still evolving, a process impeded both by the nomenclature and the indirectness of the interaction.

It can mean anything from a deliberate slap across the face to an inattentive address book edit. On some platforms, it may not even be a deliberate act, but one initiated by a computer doing its own spring cleaning.

In cases where intent is unclear, etiquette, as a rule, adopts the least insulting interpretation possible -- a reasonable, if un-modern, approach. Miss Manners therefore sees nothing wrong with expressing your good wishes and invitation through other means, be it a handwritten note or a willing boyfriend.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am the office manager at a small company, and usually when an employee has a close loved one pass away, my boss tells me to order flowers and send them to the funeral home.

However, in the past year, my grandma and my mother-in-law both passed away and my boss told me, both times, to order flowers and send them to the funeral home.

Is that appropriate? I didn’t do it either time (he didn’t notice) because I feel like it would be sending condolences to myself and because he should have sent the flowers himself. Hopefully you can clarify what the appropriate action would be for me and for my boss in case it happens again.

GENTLE READER: Prior to the deaths in your own family, Miss Manners finds nothing wrong with your boss staffing out the flower assignments. His condolences were being sent on behalf of the company, rather than in a personal capacity, and are therefore a legitimate staff activity.

She agrees, however, that this does not extend as far as asking you to, as you say, buy flowers for yourself. He could have approached a different staff member with the task, but the gracious thing would have been to do it himself. As he had already failed in his presumed intention of making you feel that the company was interested in your well-being, you can be excused for ignoring this particular order.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: If invited to a potluck function and asked to bring a dish, do I still bring a dish although I replied yes, but have since changed my mind about going?

GENTLE READER: It is rude to withdraw an acceptance to be a dinner guest, and also one to help cater the meal. So if you don’t attend but still send the dish, Miss Manners will count only one rudeness against you.

(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: There is a strange phenomenon that occurs with my wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law: When we go out for meals together, my father-in-law, brother-in-law or I will hold the door of the restaurant open to allow the ladies to enter the building ahead of us. Inevitably --and it happens no matter the combination of couples -- the ladies will come to a complete stop immediately upon crossing the threshold, rather than moving to either side.

This prevents us from moving around them in order to get in front of them. I am assuming they stop because they want us to lead them. In reality, this makes us try to squeeze around them somehow. Quite often it creates a backup of other patrons, who are also trying to enter the building.

These scenes can sometimes be frustrating and embarrassing, as if this is our first time out in public. How can I address this with the most important women in my life without being insulting?

GENTLE READER: Ah, yes, Miss Manners has met these ladies. They are the ones who stand at the top or bottom of the escalator after they get off. They don’t realize what they are doing until the bodies pile up behind them.

But they are your relatives, and should not take it amiss if you gently take their elbows and steer them clear.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Perhaps you could outline the proper procedures and reasons for a “Prom Champagne Party.”

I agreed to help a friend, who is planning this event for her 17-year-old daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend. It seems to me something of a coming-out party for the girl, who didn’t participate in a debutante ball.

I can tell that my friend has definite ideas about what she wants, and it seems now that the boy’s parents (a single mother, and a re-married father) are retreating quickly. Where they once were agreeable to splitting costs of food, rentals and limos, they now seem more interested in cutting costs and doing everything on the cheap, or so my friend says.

She doesn’t have much experience doing this sort of thing. My issue is that I don’t want to have to listen to her complain about how cheap the boy’s parents are and how the stepmother is probably influencing how much the father will pay.

I thought the rules were like a wedding: The girl’s family gets to absorb the costs. I don’t want this to end in sour grapes.

GENTLE READER: Grapes should not be involved. A champagne party for a 17-year-old girl is dangerous, if not also illegal.

There are no rules about splitting the cost of a lavish party for a couple who are merely prom dates, because the whole idea is outlandish. But if people agree to entertain together, then both must approve the plans and the expenses.

You have already seen how distasteful it is of your friend to dictate the arrangements and squeeze the other couple to pay. If Miss Manners were you, she would be looking for a way to back out of this unfortunate situation.

(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.)