DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband has long phone conversations with his kids, cousins and siblings -- every day. They used to be regular phone calls, then he switched to speakerphone, now it’s virtual conferences during the coronavirus crisis.

I was never a part of these calls previously, but now he feels I should be chiming in, at least for a little while. I’m an introvert, not very close to his family and uncomfortable with this new normal, even with my friends and family.

Am I being rude? Should I reach out and let them know how I feel about this?

GENTLE READER: Telling them that you don’t enjoy talking with them? Yes, that would be rude at any time. During a crisis, when families feel the need to be especially close, it would be cruel.

Could you imagine saying such a thing if they were visiting in person?

Miss Manners is not condemning you to lengthy virtual gatherings. Just pop by the monitor, ask how everyone is, and assume a look of regret when you say, “I’m afraid I have to excuse myself” -- no explanation necessary or advisable.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: We moved to a new house right before shelter-in-place became the new normal. A neighbor and his family stopped by to introduce themselves and very graciously gave us a lawnmower (they had bought a new one and had no need for it).

Typically, I would send a thank-you note and bring over baked goods, but I am unsure how to navigate this, given the pandemic. Is just a thank-you note sufficient? Perhaps I could include a gift card to a local restaurant, as many around us are still ordering takeout?

Help! My indecision now has me at two weeks out, and I don’t want to delay further and miss my “thank you” window.

GENTLE READER: First, allow Miss Manners to remind you that such a window is never closed. As you know, letters of thanks should be written immediately upon receipt of a present or favor, but the need to do so never goes away.

(Sorry. She does not mean to scold you, who realizes your obligation, but she is tired of hearing from delinquent graduates and bridal couples who declare it “too late.” The later it is done, the more groveling it requires.)

In your case, it was a neighborly gesture, for which a reciprocal neighborly gesture -- those baked goods -- would have been better than sending a bought present. Perhaps you could leave them at their door, and telephone that you have done so. But this is no time to discourage helping them order their own food, if you are so inclined.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: If I call in a grocery order and drive to the store to pick it up, should I tip the person who brings it to my car? He or she is probably not the person who filled the order.

GENTLE READER: No, but he or she is taking a risk to help get the order to you. If you want to add another tip, asking that person to take it to whoever did fill the order, Miss Manners would consider it gracious.

(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: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought our 34-year-old son back under our roof -- temporarily, we all fervently hope. For now, we are back to family dinnertime, like we used to have years ago.

In some ways, that is a silver lining. I do enjoy his company, and he gives us some support.

However, his table manners seem to have lost something over time. He wolfs his food in huge bites, sometimes so big they’re falling out of his mouth, and he seems to be practically swallowing his food whole, gulping noisily.

When he’s dined with us as a guest, I didn’t notice this so much, but now it is every night. So far as I know, he’s never been fed skimpy portions -- I always make sure there’s more than enough to go around -- and no one is threatening to grab food off his plate if he doesn’t eat fast enough.

He typically just sits with an empty plate while others finish, and he seldom goes for seconds. I tend to think it’s just a bad habit from living by himself, but I don’t know.

It’s well past time for me to be correcting his eating habits, but this is bothering me at mealtime and affecting my own appetite. It seems like a poor compliment to my cooking for him to gobble indiscriminately, as if it were dog food. What’s more, he will (I trust) resume his professional career when things get better, and he risks making a very poor impression when colleagues or prospective employers invite him to lunch.

I don’t know how to speak to him about this without making him feel like a reprimanded child. It’s hard enough not falling back into a mom role with this grown man who’s now back in his old room. I don’t want to introduce resentment or strife. But I’m starting to dread mealtimes with his unexpectedly savage behavior. I didn’t bring him up that way. What do you suggest?

GENTLE READER: Welcome back to Family Dinner. If you recall, those were the occasions on which you taught not only table manners, but conversation, nutrition, pretending interest in how others spent the day, and other such basic skills of civilization.

Time for a refresher course.

Miss Manners understands that the remedial approach should be somewhat different. Perhaps not, “because I’m your mother, and I say so,” or even, “You don’t want to make a bad impression on others” -- because your son has, presumably, been getting along for some time (either without business lunches, or among other gobblers). Although maybe that’s why he is living by himself.

But health arguments, which have no effect on children, work with grownups. If you are not afraid that he will choke on those huge, unchewed bites, you should be. Please insist that he slow down so that you are not in terror of having to perform a Heimlich maneuver.

(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 partner, my sister and my best friend all seem to think it’s OK to interrupt me when I’m saying something. I was taught that it is extremely rude to interrupt and try very hard (mostly successfully) never to interrupt another person who is talking. They all know that it bothers me, but they still do it. I feel very disrespected, put down and offended when this happens, feeling that they don’t think anything I have to say is important or worth hearing.

I am rapidly losing my patience, and am afraid at some point I’m going to explode and tell all of them never to speak to me again until they can learn to let me finish a sentence. What can I politely say or do to get it across to them that this is NOT OK with me?

GENTLE READER: One fortunate side effect of physical distancing, Miss Manners hears, is that the technical limitations of web conferencing have forced people to be more conscious of interruption -- since two or more cannot easily be heard over one another. Miss Manners is hopeful that this mindfulness will carry over, but will not hold her breath.

She suggests that you invoke this rule and practice with your circle: “I am finding it very difficult to hear or talk with all of us going at once. Perhaps we can take turns and make sure that each of us is finished speaking before the next one starts.” If this fails, Miss Manners suggests that, rather than exploding, you stop talking -- turn off your audio, as it were -- and see how long it takes for them to notice.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My best friend since high school (though we are not as close as we once were) lives near our hometown, 2,000 miles from where I reside now. I want to ask a question now, to be ready for the eventual day when I may need to act.

Though she and I speak on the phone and text/email infrequently, we visit each other every other year or so and exchange lovely gifts on holidays and birthdays.

In our teens and 20s, we were relatively close with each other’s families of birth. When my father passed away about 12 years ago, I flew home for the wake and funeral, and my best friend and her husband attended. They also sent a beautiful floral arrangement.

When the day comes that one or both of her parents passes, do I need to fly home for the occasion? It goes without saying that I would send lovely flowers. But what else could I/should I do?

GENTLE READER: If you are able to attend, it would be lovely, as a gesture of the past friendship. But with some distance now, as long as you write a heartfelt condolence letter (sending the aforementioned flowers would also be charming), that is sufficient.

One hopes that when it comes to attending funerals, family members are grateful for attendance, but not expecting it. In a culture of counting “likes” as a measure of popularity, Miss Manners warns, a funeral is not the place to tally up.

(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.)