Category: Manners Matter
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Manners Matter: Gender Roles in the Workplace
Dear Mary Pat, I’m a senior manager in a medium-sized corporation. I’ve worked hard my whole career and have been routinely promoted. Part of my job is to attend various meetings throughout the week. Some of these meetings are critical to my team and others are ones that won’t impact my department as much, but […]
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Manners Matter: Fall Productivity
Dear Mary Pat, I don’t get why everyone loves the fall so much. I think the leaves are pretty and everything, but when they drop off the trees (as they are this week), my spirit drops with them, not to mention my business. I feel a little anxiety as each week brings us closer to […]
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Manners Matter: Answering Your Phone
Dear Mary Pat, My mom always uses speaker phone when she’s in public. She says it’s the only way she can hear, but it’s really awkward when we are in a restaurant or a store. Since she’s a little hard of hearing, she’s shouting into the phone and then everyone can hear the other side […]
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Manners Matter: College Roommates
Dear Mary Pat, I started college a month ago and I’m not getting along with my roommate. Honestly, she’s a little odd. I’ve been looking forward to starting my freshman year and hoped that my roommate and I would hit it off and be able to get to know the campus together. When I met […]
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Dear Mary Pat, Could you please help my friend and me settle a debate? She thinks you don’t need to tip for takeout, but I was a waitress in high school and we always got tips for takeout. She thinks that servers don’t expect tips, but I know they do. Would you please weigh in […]
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Manners Matter: Distracted Driving
Dear Mary Pat, The leaves are starting to change and the cars are already slowing down as a result. I know the trees are beautiful but I see cars driving too slow and not always staying inside their lane. Can you please remind people that driving while looking at everything but the road can be […]
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Dear Mary Pat, My husband passed away two months ago and it’s been tough. Those closest to me and my family were at the wake and funeral, but I’m finding it difficult running into people who weren’t there and are now offering condolences. Even just trying to go to the grocery store or the gas […]
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Manners Matter: Relationship Advice
Dear Mary Pat, My brother and sister-in-law just ended a nine-year marriage. I’m sad for him but wasn’t surprised at all when his wife left. I know I’m biased and taking his side, but she was bad news. Always out for herself and what my brother could do for her. I won’t bother listing her […]
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Dear Mary Pat, There isn’t a delicate way to put this really, so I’ll just call it like it is: My daughter is a slob. I know that sounds harsh, but it is truly the best way to describe how she leaves her room. She’s neat in most other areas of her life (her appearance, […]
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Manners Matter: Grampa in Public
Dear Mary Pat, I like to visit my grandpa at his nursing home at least once a week. He’s just up the road from me and he’s physically able to go with me on errands and go out for lunch. The only issue is that he has a little dementia and tends to blurt things […]
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Manners Matter: Watching Your Social Budget
Dear Mary Pat, My friends give me a hard time for not being able to go out all the time. The main reason is budgetary and they can’t seem to understand that. I’m saving for school and my parents want me to put 80% of my paycheck into my savings account to help bump up […]
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Manners Matter: Too Many Summer Guests
Dear Mary Pat, Help! I’m overwhelmed with summer visitors and I’m starting to feel like a short order cook as well as a maid. This wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t working 30 hours a week on top of it all. I thought your golden years were supposed to be relaxing? Between grandchildren and […]
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Manners Matter: Negative Locals
Dear Visitors, I am addressing my column specifically to you this week since I believe some of you might have gotten the wrong impression about the majority of us. By us, I mean the thousands of locals who both make our living hosting you on this amazing peninsula and who call Door County home. I’d […]
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Manners Matter: Litterers in Door County
Dear Mary Pat, I was driving behind a car recently and someone on the passenger side threw a wrapper out the window. I was so annoyed! Then two minutes later, down the window goes again and then a can comes flying out, narrowly missing my car. Who still litters these days? More than just a […]
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Dear Mary Pat, Perhaps you can help settle an argument between my husband and myself. We were at an outdoor concert and the woman in front of us had her tag hanging out of the neck of her shirt. I leaned over to fix it and my husband pulled my hand back and shook his […]
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Manners Matter: Dinner Party Hostess Gifts
Dear Mary Pat, We often have people over for dinner and it’s something that my husband and I really enjoy. We have a great group of friends and like to see them as often as we can. There is an occasional guest, however, that doesn’t quite grasp the concept of a hostess gift. He brings […]
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Manners Matter: Friends Drink Too Much
Dear Mary Pat, My girlfriend and I have a group of people with whom we socialize on weekends. We don’t have all that much in common with them but they were fun to kick back and drink beer with…in the beginning. The problem is that now most of them drink to excess and within a […]
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Manners Matter: Receiving Gifts
Dear Mary Pat, I love buying people gifts to honor the big moments and accomplishments in their life. I live far from family so almost always end up shipping these items to their homes. Here’s my problem: from the teenaged and college-aged ones, I never receive acknowledgment that they actually received the gift. I would […]
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Manners Matter: ‘Parenting’ Others’ Children
Dear Mary Pat, I am a mother of two young children. This weekend we spent time at the playground, where many other children were playing. A few of the older kids started playing catch with a softball just a few feet down from where toddlers were sitting down and playing. The whole situation made me […]
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Manners Matter: Beach Etiquette
Dear Mary Pat, I was at the beach and the woman next to me shook out her towel and the wind blew the sand all over me and my towel. I was not happy and she was oblivious to what was going on around her. Could you please go over some basic rules of the […]