DEAR MISS MANNERS: I sell restored vintage products online. My customers often send me long emails thanking me for the work I do and sometimes even sending pictures.
I'm a one-person operation and time is always short. I like to respond, but usually with just a quick, "Thanks for the note, glad you like it."
This seems so insincere after reading a much more thought-out email. Most of the time I don't respond at all. What is the etiquette?
GENTLE READER: If the choice is insincerity or rudeness, Miss Manners prefers the former. But she doubts that your grateful customers are weighing "thank you" for its emotional heft, and disputes your premise that brevity is necessarily insincere.
(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.)