DEAR MISS MANNERS: We have about a dozen fruit trees at our home. We fertilize, prune and care for them ourselves. When the fruit is on the trees, we have invited a few specific people, usually from our church, to come pick some.
When I invited one church member to come and get some fruit, imagine my surprise when she arrived with a caravan of folks, none of whom I knew! The person I'd invited said, in a very loud voice in front of everyone, "Well, you can see I brought friends."
One of the children in the group was climbing the trees, and I was horrified -- especially since lawyers in our area like to heavily advertise the large settlements they win for clients.
This group nearly stripped the trees. Obviously, I will never invite her again, but is there anything that I could have said to discourage this at the time?
GENTLE READER: As your church acquaintance was smugly aware of her rudeness, the only thing Miss Manners would have done is agreed with her: "Yes, we weren't expecting such a large crowd and thorough picking of our fruit. It looks like we may not have enough left for the pie I was hoping to make for everyone later. The children would have particularly enjoyed it after their exhausting and dangerous climbs."