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Category: Manners Matter

  • Manners Matter: My Employees Are Burned Out

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    Dear Mary Pat,   I’ve noticed that my employees are starting to get a little impatient with customers. Most of them work lots of shifts throughout the week, and quite a few of them work two or more jobs. How do I help them overcome burnout? It’s obviously not good for my business if customers […]

  • Manners Matter: Think Before You Drink

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    Dear Mary Pat,   My family spends two weeks up in Door County every year with four different families. We rent a huge house right on a beach and we’ve always had so much fun. It has been our long-standing joke that we don’t have to worry about having too many cocktails since we never […]

  • Manners Matter: What Do I Get my Boss for Her Birthday?

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    MANNERS MATTER   Dear Mary Pat,   I work in a small office and am always torn on what to get for my boss for her birthday. She always gets a thoughtful gift for each of us and I would like to reciprocate, but it really isn’t in my budget. Do you think she expects […]

  • Manners Matter: Litterbugs Leave Me at a Loss

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    Dear Mary Pat,   I live in downtown Chicago and am sometimes surprised by the amount of litter I see when I’m walking down any given sidewalk. The city does a pretty good job of keeping on top of it but nevertheless, people leave cigarette butts and various wrappers on the ground and it doesn’t […]

  • Manners Matter: How to Respond to Unreasonable Demands

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    Dear Mary Pat,   My wife and I own some rental cottages locally and have so enjoyed hosting our guests for more than 25 years. We have been fortunate to have wonderful repeat guests and some of them have truly become friends over the years. It was especially shocking for us when we had an […]

  • Manners Matter: Reckless Driving Makes for Dangerous Conditions

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    Dear Mary Pat,   I live in a condominium development that is particularly busy during holiday weekends. We have a lot of renters and second homeowners who come up on weekends, which makes for a lot of traffic in our otherwise relatively quiet neighborhood. With the Fourth of July weekend, it was exceptionally busy. My […]

  • Manners Matter: My Neighbors’ Fireworks are Upsetting

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    MANNERS MATTER   Dear Mary Pat,   I dread this time of year. My husband suffers from PTSD and fireworks are really torture for him. The sound is overwhelming and it triggers bad memories of his deployment. My neighbors have a big BBQ next door every year and they start lighting off fireworks at dusk […]

  • Manners Matter: My Friend is Obsessed with Social Media

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    Dear Mary Pat,   My friend is social media obsessed. We can’t take a bite of our food before she takes a picture of each of our entrees for Instagram. I really don’t think that people care what each of us ordered while we were out for dinner. She’s starting to act more like a […]

  • Manners Matter: My Friend is Social Media Obsessed

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    Dear Mary Pat,   My friend is social media obsessed. We can’t take a bite of our food before she takes a picture of each of our entrees for Instagram. I really don’t think that people care what each of us ordered while we were out for dinner. She’s starting to act more like a […]

  • Manners Matter: My Roommates Are Slobs

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    Dear Mary Pat,   Help! My roommates are total slobs. I live in a summer rental with three of my coworkers and no one seems to be aware of the fact that we do not have a live-in maid. The bathroom looks like a war zone with towels thrown about, make-up and brushes left on […]

  • Manners Matter: Wedding Gift Etiquette

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    Dear Mary Pat,   I’ve been asked to seven different weddings this summer. Two of the seven are for the reception only. I’m just wondering what the etiquette is for gift giving for the reception-only weddings. One I will be attending and the other one is on the same day as a wedding of a […]

  • Manners Matter: Chatty Coworker

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    Dear Mary Pat, I have a co-worker who talks constantly throughout the day. I find it very difficult to concentrate on my work and I’ve tried unsuccessfully to get him to zip it. He also complains that he doesn’t get his work done and is always behind. Um, maybe because he’s a run-on sentence since […]

  • Manners Matter: Long-Distance Love

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    Dear Mary Pat, My girlfriend and I just finished our freshman year at college. I go to school here in Wisconsin and her school is in Ohio. Needless to say, we didn’t get to see each other very much over the past two semesters apart from when we were home for Christmas and spring break. […]

  • Manners Matter: Hand Over the Keys Please

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    Dear Mary Pat,   My dad just turned 89 and is in great health overall. In fact, most people don’t believe me when I say how old he is. The only place where he is showing his age is behind the wheel. He is having issues with his vision and his reaction times aren’t what […]

  • Manners Matter: Man of Leisure’s Wife Wants A Little Help

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      Dear Mary Pat,   My husband retired a year ago and I still have two more years to go before I can claim that status. I have to admit to being a little jealous of his new schedule. When he’s not on the golf course, he is spending time with our grandkids and going […]

  • Manners Matter: Let’s Lift Each Other Up

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    Dear Mary Pat,   Last weekend, I went to a winery with a girlfriend to pick up some things. We are both pretty reserved and kept to ourselves, so when we walked past a group of women from a bachelorette party and one of them looked over, glared at us and called us sluts, neither […]

  • Manners Matter: Worried About Wife’s HGTV Frustration

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    Dear Mary Pat,   I’m starting to worry about my wife’s sanity. She watches HGTV continuously after dinner. I don’t worry over her binge watching; I worry over her yelling at the TV and getting so upset over comments people make on either house flipping shows or real estate buying shows. She acts as though […]

  • Manners Matter: “Thank You” Etiquette

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    Dear Mary Pat, What am I supposed to make of friends and family sending their “thank yous” over a text or email instead of by hand? When I take the time to drive to a store, pick out a gift for somebody, wrap it and either deliver it in person or pay to mail it, […]

  • Mary Pat: Should People Silence Phones in Public?

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    Dear Mary Pat, Wouldn’t you think that people would automatically silence their cell phones while out to dinner or in any public place? When I go out to dinner with friends, there are a couple of them that keep their cell phones on full volume. The first “ding” is annoying. By the time I hear […]

  • Manners Matter: What to Do About A Gold-digging Girlfriend

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    Dear Mary Pat,   My brother has been dating a woman for about two years. She’s only interested in his money and what it can buy. It’s so obvious to myself, my siblings, our parents and most of his friends. We have all tried in our own way to subtly point this out to him […]