DEAR MISS MANNERS: With masks now required for entering restaurants that are opening at reduced capacity, how do we handle conversations and eating? I can’t imagine going back to my favorite restaurant and relaxing while masked. The experience is ruined, even at an outside table, and I would be more relaxed at home.

And I am really puzzled about tipping for curbside, as opposed to tipping for inside (or outside) dining. Are there new rules? What are they, or what should they be?

GENTLE READER: You are not the only one who finds such a prospect unappealing, a reality that restaurants are struggling to address. Staying in is the only alternative to following the rules.

Miss Manners is not a fan of tipping: She prefers that employers pay staff a living wage. But recognizing that it exists, she feels it would be gracious to apply the more generous rules for in-person dining to curbside pickup, as a measure of thanks for those working under trying conditions.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My lovely wife and I have celebrated 48 years of marriage. We had a fairly small wedding, though we invited about 200 guests. Half of them were to come from my fiancee’s hometown, with the other half mostly couples my parents knew. Only about eight guests were friends of mine.

Neither my wife nor I were, or are now, in the same social circle as most of these people. Only about 22 people from my parents’ list showed up. From the others: no show, no gifts, no regrets and no RSVPs. From my fiancee’s hometown, just about everyone RSVP’d and brought or sent gifts. It was embarrassing, with one side of the church full and the other about 15%.

Over the years, we have received invitations to children’s and grandchildren’s baptisms, bar mitzvahs, confirmations and weddings, although we are still not in the same social circles as these people. Many years ago, I started giving inexpensive “invitation trays” as gifts for these events. My wife thinks I should get a more expensive gift from their registries.

My argument is: Why, exactly, should I purchase an expensive gift for people I don’t know, when no one in their family acknowledged my existence when I was married? The only time I ever hear from them is when they want a gift.

GENTLE READER: Contrary to popular belief, cost and graciousness are not, to borrow your phrase, in the same social circle.

So if you are going to contextualize the question as you did, Miss Manners instead asks, “Why should you purchase a gift at all, expensive or otherwise?” You need only decline these invitations.

But while their behavior around your wedding was rude, you may also not wish to reveal that you have been carrying a grudge for 48 years. Whether their current behavior is as gift-grubbing as you believe, or a genuine attempt to reconnect a tenuous relationship, will be hard to assess if you never attend.

(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: When I receive a call on my cellphone, most of the time it is from someone in my electronic phone book, so the name of the caller appears on my screen as the phone is ringing.

What is the proper thing to do when answering such a call? Just say “hello” as if I don’t know who is calling? Or say, “Hello, Mary” (or whatever the person’s name is? This was not a problem before rampant caller ID.

GENTLE READER: Because the caller cannot see what you see, a “hello,” delivered with that cadence that indicates it is a question, will never get you into trouble.

But now that caller ID is so common, Miss Manners gives you her permission to greet a known caller by name. So long, that is, as you do not plan to follow the greeting with an urgent, “I told you not to call me this late!”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A while back, a friend asked me for a recommendation for a handyman, which I obliged. Apparently, she and the handyman spoke about a number of things to be fixed, but he only fixed a few.

I came to find out that the handyman saw other items that needed to be fixed, and did so without asking. My friend became quite upset and refused to pay for these additional items, one being a sink that he claims was in terrible condition. Apparently they went back and forth, and the handyman asked only to be paid for the materials used and not labor.

At this point, I became aware of the situation. I commented to her that although he overstepped a bit, he was being helpful and should be fully paid -- especially since she was, and still is, enjoying the fruits of his labor. She said she would think about it.

We never spoke of this again, but I then hired this man again for a small job and found out that she had refused to pay him. Needless to say, I was uncomfortable with him, and now her. Should I leave this alone or say something to my friend?

GENTLE READER: Before you say anything to your friend, let us review business etiquette.

The customer determines what she will buy. Miss Manners believes this statement to be absolute, whatever medical service providers may think. By altering something he was not asked to touch, the handyman committed an ethical breach. That cancels out any genuine concern he may have felt about the sink -- concern that was already suspect, since he expected financial gain for fixing it.

There is no requirement that your friend pay the handyman for his unsolicited time or expense. But there is also no prohibition against her doing so if a long list of conditions is met: that, in retrospect, your friend is happy that the sink was done; that the work was done well; and that she believes the handyman’s intentions were pure -- or at least as pure as the water that used to come out of the sink.

(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: If one were to get food on one’s eyeglasses while one is wearing them, should one use a napkin to clean them? Or another item, such as a microfiber cloth or handkerchief?

This has yet to happen to me in a public setting, but I am curious if this question has a definitive answer.

GENTLE READER: Would you mind telling Miss Manners how you propose to squirt your food onto your eyeglasses? Much as she admires your prudence in preparing for such a possibility, she cannot come up with a scenario.

Surely you know that when squeezing a lemon onto a dish, you should aim the juicy part downwards. And that you should not drop dumplings into your soup from a great height. Or pitch too zealously into your grapefruit.

But you wanted an answer. All right. It is: Remove your glasses. Do not sit there with gravy dripping from your face, pretending that nothing happened. If you cannot wipe them inconspicuously, go to the bathroom and do so.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Our wedding got canceled, but we got married anyway at city hall. My husband and I plan on having the reception next year, once things settle down.

I do very much want to have the father-daughter dance and a chance to wear my wedding dress. We plan to stage photos. We are not asking for gifts, just for family and friends to attend.

We have gotten some pushback; people are saying it will be “fake” and that it is tacky for me to wear my dress after I will have been married for a year.

We could have just rescheduled the wedding, but we needed to get married for health care since my husband has an illness and lost his job.

This criticism is very hurtful. I didn’t get to have my father walk me down the aisle, and I want to dance with him. Are we out of line?

GENTLE READER: Consider how this is perceived in regard to costume jewelry: It is only “fake” if it is pretending to be what it is not. But it can be lovely in itself if it is frankly what it is.

To pretend that you and your husband are actually getting married would not only be asking your guests to participate in a charade, it would also undercut the seriousness of the vows you actually took -- as if they didn’t count unless accompanied by the customary hoopla.

Yet Miss Manners -- and, she is guessing, people who care about you -- could be touched by your sentimentality if it is frankly stated. You cannot squeeze this into formal invitations, so, when the time comes, write a letter to explain the delayed reception to which you are inviting people.

It would be something like, “Having been unable to celebrate our wedding with you last summer, Oliver and I request the pleasure of your company now that it is possible to gather safely at a reception. We hope you will indulge our desire to enjoy some of the wedding customs we missed. When else would I get a chance to wear my wedding dress?”

(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.)