DEAR MISS MANNERS: I attended a party and excused myself to use the bathroom, looking for some aspirin for a slight headache. I would have asked the host to help me, but he was busy entertaining his large number of guests and was unavailable.
As I opened the medicine cabinet, suddenly a large number of balls and beads came loudly thundering down, scaring the life out of me. Moments later, a roar of laughter came from outside the door. Obviously the medicine cabinet had been booby-trapped as a practical joke, with many of the partygoers in on it.
I was exceedingly embarrassed and exited the bathroom, only to be mocked for this for the rest of the evening by everyone attending the party. I apologized to my host (who was grinning) for snooping in the medicine cabinet, but wondered if the greater crime was my being made the butt of a joke.
GENTLE READER: Even among those who would dismiss etiquette as unimportant compared to such things as war and governance, there would be universal condemnation of potentates who conquered their neighbors’ countries with the comparatively bloodless solution of inviting the rightful rulers to dinner and murdering them.
Playing tricks on one’s guests is inexcusable, whatever the reason.
However, Miss Manners admits that rifling through the host’s cabinets is also problematic. The consequences may be learning something you would prefer not to have known, or discovering that the homeowner has a different labeling system for pills than your pharmacist. Better to wait for a lull in the conversation and ask your host for the aspirin.