DEAR MISS MANNERS: Due to a pretty bad injury years ago, I now work a job that is 100% remote. This means many, many video meetings.
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Most meetings start with the “Hi, how are you?” or “Good game on Sunday, did you see it?” questions and random chitchat.
But for the past couple of weeks, topics I consider unprofessional have been brought up. Examples: A couple people discuss vaccines, and one will sarcastically ask, “Did you get your updated booster?” and the other will respond, “Not yet — my memory chip implant hasn’t expired.” Or they’ll say outright, “It’s all a gimmick.” Other times, they have brought up local-to-them politics, which quickly shifts into discussions of national politics.
How do I politely ask that these subjects not be discussed? I would ask the person who created the meeting, but they’re one of my work friends and everyone knows that.
GENTLE READER: Ah, but you have not heard Miss Manners’ answer, for which a sympathetic boss will be a bonus: Tell the meeting creator the real problem, but then ask that it be dealt with by limiting the chitchat time so that you can get down to business.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I went out to brunch to celebrate three single friends’ birthdays.
The three of them had made these plans among themselves and then invited us after the planning, when matters of date, time and place were already set.
When the check came, my husband went to pick it up. One of the birthday celebrants said, “No, we’re all paying.” After a little back-and-forth, everybody paid an equal portion of the bill.
Yet one of the birthday celebrants was miffed, as he let us all know later over another meal together. He said that he didn’t like having to pay for his own birthday brunch. (We are old people with even older friends, so the truth usually comes out.)
I explained that he didn’t buy his own birthday brunch: He bought brunch for Celebrant No. 1, who bought brunch for Celebrant No. 2, who bought brunch for him …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
