DEAR MISS MANNERS: My wife, my son and I have been in the habit of going out to a restaurant together for Saturday breakfast. My wife takes her vitamins in a small disposable bag, and at the end of the meal, she leaves the empty bag on the table. Sometimes she will leave with it a tissue that she has used to refresh her makeup.
My son, who has worked in food service, criticizes her for this, and asserts that no personal trash should be left on the table that was not part of eating the meal itself -- and that it is especially inappropriate to expect someone else to handle the tissue, which might have been used for anything.
My wife is unrepentant. What would you advise?
GENTLE READER: Given your close relationship to the disagreeing parties, Miss Manners would advise staying out of the line of fire. But she agrees with your son that the fact that a restaurant table is going to be cleaned and reset is not an invitation to add to the post-meal debris.