DEAR MISS MANNERS: With masks now required for entering restaurants that are opening at reduced capacity, how do we handle conversations and eating? I can’t imagine going back to my favorite restaurant and relaxing while masked. The experience is ruined, even at an outside table, and I would be more relaxed at home.
And I am really puzzled about tipping for curbside, as opposed to tipping for inside (or outside) dining. Are there new rules? What are they, or what should they be?
GENTLE READER: You are not the only one who finds such a prospect unappealing, a reality that restaurants are struggling to address. Staying in is the only alternative to following the rules.
Miss Manners is not a fan of tipping: She prefers that employers pay staff a living wage. But recognizing that it exists, she feels it would be gracious to apply the more generous rules for in-person dining to curbside pickup, as a measure of thanks for those working under trying conditions.