DEAR MISS MANNERS: Please tell me what you think of a lady whom I invited to lunch (with others), who went ahead and ordered a meal to take home from the waiter.
She ordered it towards the end of the meal, without asking me, for someone I didn’t know who had just arrived in town and was hungry. Meanwhile, I was paying the check. I would never even dream of doing that to someone.
Is that the epitome of bad manners, or am I crazy and making something out of nothing? I can afford it, but she didn’t even ask me.
GENTLE READER: No doubt when she mentioned that it was for a hungry newcomer, she expected to head off any objections by insinuating that you would be cruel to complain. And she succeeded.
But do we really believe in her version of Robin Hood tactics -- that it is fine to chisel from the solvent, as long as we are charitable? What Miss Manners thinks of the lady is that if you have her to dinner at your house, it would be wise to count the forks before she leaves.