DEAR MISS MANNERS: My son borrows my car, and when I get into it afterwards, I can’t find my sunglasses, which I leave on the dashboard. I lost two pair in the same week.
He says it is my fault because I leave them on the dash and it gets on his nerves, so he doesn’t care where he puts them. I found one pair under the passenger-side front seat.
My husband sides with my son when I get on him. It’s my fault, they say, because I don’t put them where they belong when I get out of my car. HELP!!!!
GENTLE READER: As the recipient of a favor (the loan of your car), your son should expect to make reasonable accommodation to your preferences, returning it in the condition in which he received it. That includes restoring the seat position, occasionally refilling the gas -- and putting your sunglasses back where he found them. Miss Manners would have thought that the consequences of annoying his mother would be both self-evident and worth some minor irritation.