DEAR MISS MANNERS: A friend sneezed in my direction at dinner, with my plate of food in the target zone. Although he apologized, I was horrified about eating the food, but also did not want to embarrass him or make him feel bad.
I ate it, rather than ask for a replacement. (Yuck!) What would have been a polite way to avoid consuming his germs?
GENTLE READER: Yuck indeed. Miss Manners commends your valiancy -- and iron stomach. Your reaction goes beyond any reasonable expectation of good manners.
But she agrees that it would be difficult to come up with an excuse for asking for the food to be replaced without embarrassing your friend. It would have been polite for your friend to have done so on your behalf.
In lieu of that, however, you could have discreetly stopped eating and politely eschewed any questions as to why -- or said that you yourself weren't feeling well. Surely not an inaccurate statement, given the circumstances.